Apple sued by app developer over emojis
Apple has been sued by an app developer who claimed that the technology company “pretended to the world that ‘Animoji’ was original to Apple”.
The case, filed at the US District Court for the Northern District of California on Wednesday, October 18, accused Apple of using the ‘Animoji’ mark despite several unsuccessful prior attempts to purchase it.
Enrique Bonansea, a US citizen who lives in Japan, created an app called ‘Animoji’, which lets people send animated emojis in a loop, simila to GIFs.
‘Animoji’ is also a new feature in the iPhone X which lets people transform their face into a customised moving emoji, using recognition technology.
Bonansea was granted US trademark number 4,712,559 for the mark in March 2015 and claimed that Apple had “wilfully infringed” it.
“Apple offered to buy plaintiffs’ mark but was rebuffed,” the complaint read.
It added: “Instead of using the creativity on which Apple developed its worldwide reputation, Apple simply plucked the name from a developer on its own App Store.”
Bonansea further alleged that in the summer of 2017, he was approached several times to purchase the trademark, stating that he believed these were “fronts of Apple”.
“These entities—acting (on information and belief) on behalf of Apple—threatened to file a cancellation proceeding if Bonansea did not sell the mark.”
Bonansea asked the court to enjoin Apple from using the mark, to receive all profits derived from Apple’s use of the mark, and for damages and attorneys’ fees.
Did you enjoy reading this story? Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.
Today’s top stories:
Aldi loses to Sky in General Court trademark battle
Brian Winterfeldt opens new firm in Washington, DC
AIPLA 2017: Confusion reigns after Lexmark and TC Heartland
Redd and Wiggin combine to create ‘IP powerhouse’
