Vacation rental startup Zaranga has fallen foul of the trademark police at Priceline and removed any references to "name your price" or "name your own price" from its branding.
The new Y-Combinator backed company entered the marketplace with model where users can get involved in a dynamic pricing system (similar to Priceline's famous name-your-0wn-price model) to secure vacation rental properties with a cost they are willing to pay.
Unfortunately for Zaranga and its eight-person team, Priceline is fiercely protective of the long-held tagline and has ordered the company to stop using any mention of such messaging on its website and marketing materials.
Counsel for Priceline contacted Zaranga over the issue in March and the company has now removed all such references.
Zaranga is looking to get in on some of the $23 billion (of the overall $54 billion) estimated to be kicking around in the US rental market, specifically the professionally managed properties.
Coincidentally, Priceline global brand Booking.com has also recently upped its stakes in the vacation rental sector, boosting the amount of product available on the site by way of a partnership and integration of some 2,500 properties with European service InterHome.