A Japanese software company has sued Apple in a US court over the trademark for the term "animoji", alleging the US technology company stole the name to use on a feature of its iPhone X.
Tokyo-based Emonster kk sued Apple on Wednesday in federal court in San Francisco, saying it holds the US trademark on the term animoji and that Apple's use of the word is a "textbook case" of deliberate infringement.
What is this application?
Emonster owns an iOS app called "Animoji" that lets people send emoji that are animated in a loop like GIFs.
The iPhone X's "Animoji" feature lets people transform their face into customised moving emoji with the help from Apple's face recognition technology “FaceID".
Apple sued by Japanese company that owns Animoji trademarkhttps://t.co/GwbKFuITkn pic.twitter.com/nS77bR2MPN
— The Verge (@verge) October 20, 2017
Working with A11 Bionic, the TrueDepth camera captures and analyses over 50 different facial muscle movements, then animates those expressions in a dozen different "Animoji", including a panda, unicorn and robot.
Available as an iMessage app pre-installed on iPhone X, customers can record and send "Animoji" messages with their voice that can smile, frown and more.
What is the lawsuit?
Apple had full knowledge of Emonster's app because it is available for download on Apple's App Store, the lawsuit said. The Emonster app costs $0.99 on Apple iTunes.
Phil Schiller, Apple's chief marketing officer, touted the Animoji feature during the iPhone X launch event on September 12, calling it a "great experience" for communicating with family and friends.
Emonster chief executive Enrique Bonansea launched an animated texting app in 2014 called Animoji and registered a trademark on the product name, according to the lawsuit.
Emonster said it is seeking unspecified money damages and a court order blocking Apple from using the term while the lawsuit is pending.
An Apple spokesman declined to comment.