Visier, Inc. has sued Google LLC for trademark infringement and unfair competition over Google’s use of the trademark VIZIER in association with a recently-launched managed machine learning platform.

Visier is a Vancouver based company offering software applications for use in human resources analytics.  It was founded in 2010 and prides itself on now being a global leader in people analytics, with customers in 75 countries around the world, including many Fortune 500 companies.  Naturally, all of its services are provided under the trademark VISIER, which has been federally registered in the United States.

In the complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Visier claims that due to the high degree of similarity in appearance, sound and commercial impression, Google’s use of VIZIER is likely to cause confusion among customers, leading to the belief that Google’s software is connected with Visier.

Before bringing the lawsuit, Visier attempted an amicable resolution, requesting that Google discontinue use of the trademark and transition to a new name.  Google has yet to file a response to the complaint and it remains to be seen whether it will attempt to reopen settlement discussions with Visier or if it will simply choose to defend its position in the lawsuit.