A startup alleges that Apple infringed on its intellectual property in a new app the tech giant introduced this week called Shortcuts, according to a report.
The company, Shift, which uses blockchain technology to build websites, sent a cease and desist letter to Apple dated June 6 that demands that it drop the offending design or pay $200,000.
The issue stems from an app Apple introduced at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) that will be become available in the fall with Apple’s iOS 12. The app helps create shortcuts for Apple’s AI assistant Siri that are tailored to the user.
At WWDC, Apple gave the example of users saying “Hey Siri, I lost my keys,” and Siri would connect them to a dongle on their keychain which would make sound to help find it.
Shift alleges that Apple’s Shortcuts app logo — two rounded corners rhomboids fading into each other to vaguely look like an “S” — was copied from the Shift logo — two squares layered on top of each other (like a pointed figure eight) that also resembles an “S.”
“It’s mind-blowing that Apple, the firm with the biggest cash pile in history, the firm that is so design oriented, had to copy our logo,” a spokesperson for Shift told The Sun.
In a statement to Fortune, Shift reiterated that Apple “infringed on our logo which we have relied on to identify us in the community,” but said it wanted to resolve the issue amicably and not distract from the company’s blockchain-oriented website goals.
According to The Sun, Shift sent Apple a cease and desist letter, accusing Apple of “unauthorized use” of its logo. The legal representative said the company spent “substantial time and effort in advertising, and promoting” the logo as the icon for its downloadable app.
“As a result, the Shift trademark has become an asset of susbtantial [sic] value and a symbol of our client’s goodwill,” the representative said, according to The Sun, which saw a copy of the letter.
Shift asked Apple to either change the Shortcuts the logo, or pay it $200,000 so it can “rebrand” and hire a designer to create a new one.
At the time of publication, Apple had not responded to a request for comment from Fortune.
