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bLackjackj

macrumors 6502a
Nov 14, 2016
847
1,718
I’m calling anyone who would confuse the two a moron. Unless you’re color blind and can’t tell the difference between purple and red.
So yes, you are calling the developers of Delta dumb & now colour blind. If they didn't think there was a likeness,..they would have ignored the demand letter. 🙄🤦‍♂️
 
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purplerainpurplerain

macrumors 6502a
Dec 4, 2022
608
1,175
If they want to steal logos and love retro gaming they should have done better like stealing this one

1716022742057.jpeg
 

falkon-engine

macrumors 65816
Apr 30, 2010
1,236
2,967
Adobe pressing ahead with potential legal action was not on my bingo card. I was expecting Nintendo to enter the chat. But until then I’m enjoying my SnES catalogue on my 📱.

Given that the systems emulated are so old, Nintendo may never enter the chat. I hope so.
 

rustygh

macrumors member
Sep 25, 2023
31
-17
Most people are not smart enough to use Delta, it's not like it's a big deal App, even with the App Store release.
I love it, been using for a couple years with Alt Store. Ya, it looked close, but truthfully adobe is looking for free advertising, they went to 💩 a long time ago, total bloatware. If you post backing adobe you're a dinosaur!
 

jlc1978

macrumors 603
Aug 14, 2009
5,530
4,324
Wow that is a super stretch Adobe, clearly its a different font, what dicks.

It doesn't have to be identical to infringe.

Its not even in the same realm of services..

Sure it is - computer software; which is why Adobe needed to protect their trademarked logo.

Your comments literally make no sense. It's pretty clear that Delta are that scared themselves that they were too similar,..they literally pushed out a replacement app icon in just a few hours. If they felt they weren't, they wouldn't have jumped so fast.

Maybe, but per the the developer, Adobe asked nicely so as to give them a chance to change it without lawyers and courts getting involved:

...according to ... Delta creator Riley Testut ...:

On May 7th, Adobe’s lawyers reached out to Delta with a firm but kindly written request to go find a different icon, an email that didn’t contain an explicit threat or even use the word infringement — it merely suggested that Delta might “not wish to confuse consumers or otherwise violate Adobe’s rights or the law.”

But Adobe didn’t wait for a reply. On May 8th, one day later, Testut got another email from Apple that suggested his app might be at risk because Adobe had reached out to allege Delta was infringing its intellectual property rights.

Seems like reasonable actions to protect their trademark; and the Verge headline, IMHO, is clickbait as the article directly contradicts it.
 
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Jumpthesnark

macrumors 65816
Apr 24, 2022
1,078
4,683
California
Most people are not smart enough to use Delta, it's not like it's a big deal App, even with the App Store release.
I love it, been using for a couple years with Alt Store. Ya, it looked close, but truthfully adobe is looking for free advertising, they went to 💩 a long time ago, total bloatware. If you post backing adobe you're a dinosaur!
I'm sorry, but you think that Adobe is looking for "free advertising" by sending a cease and desist letter to a niche-at-best app that most people have never heard of?

If that's the case, Adobe needs to fire its ad agency.
 
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chucker23n1

macrumors G3
Dec 7, 2014
8,608
11,420
Reminds me of the Apple BHA project.

Summary: Apple had a project internally codenamed "Carl Sagan". Sagan threatened to sue. Apple changed the name to BHA: Butt-head Astronomer.

Sagan sued and sued, losing and losing. Eventually Apple got tired of the suits and changed the internal name again to LAW (lawyers are wimps).

The story seems at least partially apocryphal. The 7100 was released in March '94, and they settled in November '95. Why would the engineers give it a third code name by then? They had already released the 7200 at that point. The engineers probably hadn't been working on the project at all after late '93/early '94.
 

purplerainpurplerain

macrumors 6502a
Dec 4, 2022
608
1,175
Reminds me of the Apple BHA project.

Summary: Apple had a project internally codenamed "Carl Sagan". Sagan threatened to sue. Apple changed the name to BHA: Butt-head Astronomer.

Sagan sued and sued, losing and losing. Eventually Apple got tired of the suits and changed the internal name again to LAW (lawyers are wimps).

Sosumi.
 
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jlc1978

macrumors 603
Aug 14, 2009
5,530
4,324
The story seems at least partially apocryphal. The 7100 was released in March '94, and they settled in November '95. Why would the engineers give it a third code name by then? They had already released the 7200 at that point. The engineers probably hadn't been working on the project at all after late '93/early '94.

Engadget has a writeup on the Sagan Apple saga here.

TL,DR; Sagan, after reading in MacWorld that Apple codenamed a computer Carl Sagan, asked them to clarify that he was not endorsing Apple or its products. The engineers changed it to BHA, he sued for libel and lost, then sued for using his name and lost and appealed, Apple settled, prompting the final code name of LAW.

The timeline is a bit odd, however, given the settlement accord after the product release. Maybe Apple continues to use codenames for updates or changes?

Then again, this is the internet. When the legend becomes the fact, print the legend.
 
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chucker23n1

macrumors G3
Dec 7, 2014
8,608
11,420
The timeline is a bit odd, however, given the settlement accord after the product release.

Exactly.

Maybe Apple continues to use codenames for updates or changes?

Yeah, but the 7200 and 7500 would've been that update, and those had different code names.

(I took a brief trip down memory lane and, good lord, those 1990s' four-digit Mac product numbers were bad.

The PowerPC series started out with 6100, 7100, 8100. OK, that makes sense.

But then the second generation had the 7200, the 8200, which was Europe-only — of course!!, the 7500, and the 8500. Then the 7500 got replaced by the 7600. But then… the 7200 and 7600 had the 7300 as their sucessor. 🧐

The 6100, meanwhile, had no direct successor at all. Instead, the LC 5xx became the 5xx0 LC, and next to it, the Quadra 630 became the 6xx0 — basically, you had the choice between all-in-one and desktop form factors.

That's before you get to how some of these had "LC" and "Performa" variants, some of which only sold to certain markets. If you were in the market for a Mac, how on Earth were you supposed to navigate that?)

Then again, this is the internet. When the legend becomes the fact, print the legend.

Yup. This feels to me more like some engineer had the zinger of "I wish we had changed the code name again to LAW" and less like anyone actually having done so.
 

Analog Kid

macrumors G3
Mar 4, 2003
9,019
11,801
The story seems at least partially apocryphal. The 7100 was released in March '94, and they settled in November '95. Why would the engineers give it a third code name by then? They had already released the 7200 at that point. The engineers probably hadn't been working on the project at all after late '93/early '94.

I'm not sure about the so called LAW project-- I'd never heard that before I looked for a reference to link. The BHA project is in the court record, however.

I wouldn't be surprised if the suit lasted longer than the codenames though, these things take time to unwind. A libel suit is always about actions in the past-- things that were said that have a lasting negative impact on one's reputation. So changing the name again wouldn't invalidate the grounds for the suit. Maybe it's bunk, or maybe the lawyers insisted the code name be changed on the first threats from Sagan.

I don't have any first hand information either way.

The engineers changed it to BHA, he sued for libel and lost,

Thanks for that link-- it's great to read a court transcript with "butt head" in it over and over again... Talk about the Streisand Effect-- if that lawsuit never happened, we wouldn't have a document repeating Sagan and Butt Head in such close proximity over and over and would have long since forgotten this little prank.
 
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macduke

macrumors G5
Jun 27, 2007
13,199
19,854
Delta's former icon does look like a mirrored version of Adobe's logo
The logos included in this story are not mirrored, they are in the exact same orientation. Adobe is just a thicc boi.

As a designer, I would just rotate it a bit to make it look more like a D, and then cut out the notch near the top left corner. If that’s not enough, add a small triangle inside.
 

Eorlas

macrumors 65816
Feb 10, 2010
1,256
1,941
Delta did a copy and paste.

they wouldn't overlap one another perfectly if it were a copy/paste. at closest resemblance, delta's logo was just flipped.

but it very evidently is a thinner design, the empty space in the middle is much larger as a result, the edges are less rounded.

ironically, for a company like adobe who sells a lot of software products for design, they seem to miss those differences in design
 
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koil

macrumors regular
Dec 3, 2019
249
615
I hate Adobe, but yeah, they’re right in this instance.
Are they? If IBM changed its logo to just be a line (to represent the I), can they sue anyone using lines in their logos for similarity?

Delta and Adobe are in completely different fields, and Adobes logo is so freaking generic I really don't understand how they can be granted a trademark for it, it's literally just a triangle with a hole in it...
 

jlc1978

macrumors 603
Aug 14, 2009
5,530
4,324
I wouldn’t be surprised considering you can copyright colors.

Trademark. Even then, you can use similar colors as long as you aren't causing confusion between the two; so Home Depot and Reese's can use similar shades of orange. No one is going to confuse the two.

Delta and Adobe are in completely different fields,

Not really, both are in the computer technology field. You don't have to make the exact same product to infringe.

Apple Computer and Apple Corps had a trademark dispute, starting in 1978, over the use of the word Apple and Apple logo and eventually Apple bought the rights from Apple Corp and licensed it back to them.

and Adobes logo is so freaking generic I really don't understand how they can be granted a trademark for it, it's literally just a triangle with a hole in it...

An apple profile is pretty generic as well.
 

August11

macrumors newbie
Apr 13, 2019
9
15
So yes, you are calling the developers of Delta dumb & now colour blind. If they didn't think there was a likeness,..they would have ignored the demand letter. 🙄🤦‍♂️
I can tell you probably haven’t been involved in any lawsuits. Being right (and winning), doesn’t mean you want to go to court. It can be very costly, especially if you’re a tiny company facing a lawsuit from a very large company. Delta would most likely end up paying hundreds of thousands in attorney fees even if they won. Possibly even more.
 
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