Adobe sues indie game emulator developer Delta for copying its logo

Delta, an old gaming emulator developed for 10 years, suddenly climbed to No. 1 on the App Store rankings after Apple relaxed its regulations on emulator applications. However, this unexpected attention also came with legal trouble when Adobe said Delta’s logo was too similar to their own.

Image source: TechCrunch

Delta was developed by Riley Testut. Before switching to iOS, Testut experimented with playing games on pocket computers. Delta is an upgraded version of GBA4iOS, an application that took advantage of vulnerabilities to run emulator games on iOS without jailbreak. GBA4iOS was very popular with millions of downloads, but Apple later patched this vulnerability, causing GBA4iOS to no longer work.

Last April, under pressure to open the App Store to more competitors, Apple began allowing game emulation applications. This is a huge opportunity for developers who previously couldn’t take advantage of the massive distribution power of the App Store. In short, Apple wants to offer these apps itself instead of having them appear on other app stores.

Testut took this opportunity to launch Delta to the public. The app quickly climbed to No. 1 on the App Store and remained there for weeks, racking up millions of downloads. Currently, after more than a month, Delta is still in the top with 33rd position on the US App Store. Even another emulator, PPSSPP (for PSP) has also risen to 5th place.

However, being at the top of the rankings also comes with disadvantages. Unlike GBA4iOS, which received little attention, Delta’s success has brought them under more scrutiny.

According to a post on Mastodon , Adobe has threatened to sue Delta because it believes their logos are too similar. Delta was forced to change its logo at Adobe’s request. Both logos feature a broken triangle, similar to the Greek letter Delta. However, Adobe’s logo is red and white, the letter “A” is thicker and extends to the end of the application icon. Meanwhile, Delta’s logo is purple and white, smaller and located in the center. Furthermore, the two sides operate in different fields – Adobe provides creative tools, while Delta serves old gaming needs. It is very difficult for users to confuse these two logos.

Delta said it received its first email from Adobe’s attorney on May 7, asking to change the app icon because it violated Adobe’s “A” logo and the law. Adobe asked Delta to respond by May 17. However, Delta received another email from Apple, saying Adobe had requested to remove the Delta app for trademark infringement. Delta responded to both companies to explain that their logo is a stylized Delta, not an “A,” but they still agreed to update the logo.

To avoid potential legal issues, Delta debuted a new logo with a broken triangle. However, the new design is not as simple and beautiful as the old logo, making some users feel dissatisfied. Testut said the new logo on the application is currently only temporary and will be updated again in version Delta 1.6.