Apple Sued By Japanese Software Company Over Animoji Trademark

Apple’s much hyped smartphone iPhone X is facing a lawsuit even before it’s launch. A Japanese software company emonster k.k., is suing the technology giant Apple over the trademark for the term “Animoji.” Tokyo based Emonster has filed the lawsuit alleging the US technology company stole the name to be used on a feature of its iPhoneX phone.

According to the lawsuit lodged with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Emonster’s Chief Executive Officer Enrique Bonansea registered a trademark for his texting app Animoji in 2014. The lawsuit also claims,“Apple decided to take the name and pretend to the world that ‘Animoji’ was original to Apple.”

Emonster’s app Animoji – Free Animated Texting (Patent Pending) is available on the iOS App Store for $ 0.99. The app is described as a “fast, free and easy to use tool to animate your text and email messages.” Calling it a willful and deliberate trademark infringement, Emonster alleges the company made the conscious decision to try to pilfer the name for itself. Enrique Bonansea was also reportedly approached by a series of companies to buy the trademark. The company also claims they were even “threatened to file a cancellation proceeding if Bonansea did not sell the mark.”

Emonster Inc., however, did not exist at the time of the original trademark filing because Bonansea lived in Seattle prior to moving to Japan. But, the suit points out, when the mark was first filed, the now dissolved “emonster Inc.,” and current Japanese corporation, “emonster k.k.,” acted as a single commercial enterprise. Therefore, emonster k.k., has reapplied for the “Animoji” trademark on September 12, 2017, using the app’s 2014 launch data as a basis for registration.

Apple announced the latest tech which brought the emojis to life using the TrueDepth camera in the iPhoneX. Customers can record and send Animoji messages using the pre installed iMessage app. Apple’s animoji feature uses an A11 Bionic camera to analyze over 50 facial muscle movements to animate them to a dozen different “Animojis.” The iPhoneX, priced at $ 999, is scheduled to be released in November while prebooking will begin in the last week of October.