When a Swipe Becomes a Business — and a Legal Boundary
Dec/29/2025
Tinder’s transformation from a dating app into a cultural verb has been both its greatest strength and a legal vulnerability, as underscored by a recent UDRP decision that rejected its attempt to reclaim a third-party domain built around the word 'swipe'. Tinder’s iconic mechanic has become part of everyday language, even as the company remains the world’s leading dating platform by scale and revenue. Owned by Match Group, Tinder logged more than 5.5 million monthly downloads in April 2025 and achieved record annual revenue despite a shrinking base of paying users, signaling a deliberate pivot toward higher-value subscriptions. Brand awareness remains formidable — 83% among U.S. online daters—while usage stands at roughly one-third of the market, driven largely by Gen Z and millennials. As Tinder layers AI into matching, profile optimization, and conversation prompts to deepen engagement, it continues to monetize intimacy at scale, even as trademark law reminds it that cultural dominance does not always confer exclusive ownership of language.
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