Ollywan claims that Meta violated U.S. antitrust laws by weaving Instagram together with its shopping feature, leaving smaller rivals unable to compete. The complaint directly accuses Meta of having taken Ollywan’s core concept. “Meta deliberately stole Ollywan’s innovative business plan and tied its monopoly in the market for social networks to foreclose competitive alternative products in the market for Tag-based Shopping,” the lawsuit said, per Reuters.

Winstag, launched in 2016, allowed users to share photos, tag products, and purchase items through affiliate shopping tools. Ollywan says it first presented the idea to Meta executives in 2015 under promises of confidentiality. One Meta executive allegedly responded, “we can potentially work together,” but weeks later Instagram Shopping debuted with features that closely mirrored Winstag’s platform, the lawsuit states. The filing describes Meta’s actions as “blatant” and says the company further hampered Winstag by raising trademark objections to its name in what Ollywan calls “pretextual enforcement.”

The startup is seeking monetary damages and a court injunction to prevent Meta from continuing similar conduct. The case, Ollywan Limited v Meta Platforms Inc, is being heard in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

This is not the only legal battle Meta is navigating. According to Reuters, the company is already defending itself against other antitrust claims. A U.S. appeals court last year revived a lawsuit accusing Meta of forcing photo app Phhhoto out of business. Additionally, Meta is contesting the Federal Trade Commission’s efforts to unwind its purchases of Instagram and WhatsApp. The company has denied wrongdoing in those cases.

The current case is being handled for Ollywan by attorneys Sam Stake and Sami Rashid of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan.

Source: Reuters