Japanese Company Brings Trademark Suit Against Apple’s iPhone X “Animoji”

Japanese company, Emonster, is suing the American company, Apple over trademark infringement related to their trademark “animoji” in the United States.

Emonster owns an iOS app called Animoji. The app lets users send each other emojis that have been animated into a loop. Emonster has owned the trademark to Animoji in the U.S. since 2015. In September Apple introduced the new iPhone X which included and “animoji” feature which uses Apple’s face recognition technology to transform a user’s face into a moving emoji.

Emonster is seeking monetary damages and an order to block Apple from continuing to use the name. However, in September Apple filed a petition to cancel the trademark. Apple argued that due to a filing error, Emonster registered the trademark to a nonexistent business. Therefore, Emonster cannot own the trademark “animoji”.