Jeremy Horwitz, VentureBeat:

Apple’s Memoji may have become the more popular 3D avatar feature for smartphones, but Xiaomi wants people to know that its similarly named version — Mimoji — came first, despite increasingly confusing overlap between the apps’ names and features. Moreover, it’s apparently threatening legal action against writers who call it a copycat without providing proof.

And:

Neither Apple nor Xiaomi can reasonably claim to be first with either the 3D animal or 3D human avatar concept; the ideas have been found in third-party apps for years, and Samsung’s AR Emoji beat both companies to market with OS-integrated human avatars in February 2018. Even the Memoji name dates back to at least early 2017, and not from Apple.

Seems fair for Xiaomi to complain about being accused of copying Apple. It’ll be interesting to see if they follow through with any actual legal action and, if so, if they have any success. Can’t imagine that will buy them many friends in the tech press.