Dear Microsoft and University of Waterloo,
Did you know that when you announced your new AI assistant, "JADA," on March 4, 2025, you used our product name, "JADA"? The first AI assistant named JADA, ours that is, has been in commercial use with Ask JADA since May 16, 2023. We have been operating as Ask JADA, first in stealth development and then with a public presence since June 9, 2024, with the first public release of our online chat version. Your AI assistant bears the same distinctive name as our existing AI assistant product in the same market segment, with no other online presence of a similarly named AI assistant product until your release on March 4, 2025.
Our product, which identifies itself as JADA in every interaction (call, text, and online chat), appears in numerous online marketing materials and predates your release by a considerable margin, with no other comparable digital assistant using this name in our market segment until your recent launch.
Your "JADA" is creating market confusion among our existing customers, who have been interacting with our JADA since last June. This situation appears to constitute a classic case of passing off under Canadian common law.
There is a reason why we chose the name "JADA", as ours stands for "Just Another Digital Agent". It's a great name, isn't it? Well, you would know, because you named yours the same, but yours stands for “Job Aggregator Digital Assistant”. So, we must formally and strongly request that you select another name for your product to avoid continued confusion in the marketplace. We heard the name “Clippy” is available again, since you seem to like using names with already established branding.
We discovered this situation after one of our customers congratulated us on what they believed was our partnership with the University of Waterloo. To clarify, University of Waterloo - if you're interested in working with the original JADA, you're welcome to continue using the name provided you use our authentic product.
To Microsoft: With your substantial legal and research resources, a simple due diligence search would have revealed Ask JADA's established commercial presence in this product category. It's disappointing to see another American corporation apparently appropriating the intellectual property of a small Canadian technology startup, particularly given the current political climate.
We look forward to your prompt attention to this matter.
Sincerely, Ask JADA by MomentPort Inc.
Sources:
https://uwaterloo.ca/news/media/meet-jada
https://www.myscience.ca/en/news/wire/meet_jada-2025-waterloo
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