A California federal judge dismissed allegations that Apple’s multi-ethnic and inclusive emojis are infringing copyrights held by Cub Club Investment (CCI). According to what was sentenced, CCI would not have been able to prove that Apple actually copied something protected by copyright.
The lawsuit, originally filed in September 2020, alleged that the world’s first diverse emoji brand was invented by Katrina Parrott, founder of CCI, who first used it in 2013 with the launch of an app called iDiversicons. which included hundreds of emojis with 5 different skin tones. CCI held over 20 copyrights and had three pending patent applications at the time.
The judge, in his full sentence, said that “even assuming that the allegations contained in the complaint are well-founded, the idea is all that Apple has copied”. The ideas, according to the judge, cannot be protected by copyright, but only by the implementation of those ideas and “there are not many ways anyone could implement this idea. After all, there are so many ways to draw a thumb. upward”.
Parrott reportedly discussed a potential partnership with Apple reps in 2014. The Cupertino-based company, however, refused the collaboration by making its own set of multi-ethnic emojis. According to Parrot, Apple’s emojis violate its copyrights and trademarks, claiming that they copy the five skin tones designed by iDiversicons in addition to other features.
Instead, the ruling states that the CCI does not have any protectable trademark rights for its emojis but are defined as “weak” copyrights, relating to the way in which emojis are actually drawn and Apple’s would not be similar enough to infringe the rights. author. The judge, however, granted CCI the possibility to amend the case while saying that she was skeptical about the possibility of a decision in favor.