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The developers behind the popular Game Boy emulator Delta for the iPhone said they updated the app's icon today to avoid potential legal action from Adobe.

Delta-App-Icon-Update-Adobe-AEM-Feature.jpg
Delta's new app icon (left) and Adobe's logo (right)

"Adobe threatened legal action unless we changed our app icon — so we did," say the release notes for the latest version of Delta on the App Store.

Delta's former icon does look like a mirrored version of Adobe's logo, which is a registered trademark in the U.S. and other countries. According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, companies have an obligation to enforce their trademarks, and failure to do so could eventually result in losing rights to the trademark.

Delta-Old-Icon.jpeg
Delta's previous app icon

"Without proper policing over time, the original owner of a mark could lose any trademark rights it has in the mark," the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office says.

Apple has enforced its trademarked logo in similar ways over the years, including in 2020, when it filed a complaint against a small company with a pear logo.

Thanks, Parker Ortolani!

Update: The Verge shared some more details about the situation, and says that Delta's current logo is only a temporary solution as it designs an all-new icon.

Article Link: Game Boy Emulator 'Delta' for iPhone Updates App Icon After Adobe 'Threatened Legal Action'
 
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Am I crazy or does the new logo somehow look more like Adobe’s? I see the Adobe logo every day and never once compared the two, but now every time I see this new logo, i’m gonna be reminded of Adobe.

Less-so the app icon, but this version of the logo looks more similar to Delta’s new logo — just three oddly-placed shape fragments:

IMG_0955.jpeg
 
Delta in the Greek alphabet is Δ.

So the original logo obviously tried to look like the Greek letter, but the resemblance to Adobe’s is striking.

They could just close the gap, and have a triangle like Δ, but they obviously chose the new logo just to make fun of this.
 
They could've just done a delta symbol without the gap in the bottom line. Then they can say "Adobe didn't invent the Greek alphabet"

Doesn't work that way. Adobe could still use it as a trademark, although others could in the types of business.
 
I heard Nintendo has more lawyers than developers. I heard that if a Nintendo game developer wants a raise they go to law school and learn to sue Youtubers. I heard Nintendo is Japanese for "Nuh Uh, You can't legally do that."

I feel like people here have a very mistaken idea of what lawyers get paid, especially compared to Nintendo developers.
 
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