The Verge:
A Japanese company, which owns the trademark for “Animoji” in the US, is suing Apple for using the word to name its iPhone X feature.
The Tokyo-based company, Emonster, filed the suit on Wednesday in US federal court, saying, “Apple made the conscious decision to try to pilfer the name for itself.”
Although Emonster has owned the trademark for Animoji since 2015, Apple filed a petition this September to cancel the trademark, so the registration is now under review. Apple said that because of a filing error, Emonster registered the trademark to a nonexistent business and therefore can’t actually own “animoji.”
Apple plays hardball but $20 says this gets settled out of court for “an undisclosed sum”.
“We want to buy your trademark.”
“No.”
“Well we’re using it anyway.”
“We’ll sue you!”
“Fine. It’s not like we’re weren’t willing to pay you in the first place.”
“?”
There is an unusual use of the registered trademark symbol and mention of patents on the Animoji site. Seems like it was set up with the end in mind.
I remember reading somewhere that there was a question of whether he registered the trademark correctly before moving to Japan.
IOW, it’s possible he doesn’t actually own the TM.
Or the trademark holder was asking for an unreasonable sum, not impossible considering the obvious depth of Apple’s pockets, and Apple made a calculated decision that a settlement under court supervision would be more equitable.
According to the suit they said “animoji” was not for sale.