FiftyThree Files Trademark For “Paper”

Earlier we reported that the developers of the popular drawing app Paper, FiftyThree, wrote on their blog that they were disappointed that Facebook had decided to use the same name for its own social network app. Given that both apps are different in their functions, it would be hard to mistake one app for the other, but FiftyThree was not happy anyway. At that time it was unclear what FiftyThree would do about it, but according to the folks at TechCrunch, it looks like FiftyThree could soon to taking legal action as they have filed for a trademark for the app on the same day that Facebook’s Paper app was launched.

However even if FiftyThree filed for the trademark, it does not necessarily mean that they will win whatever lawsuit they might throw at Facebook. After all the “Paper” name is rather generic, not to mention both apps function very differently. If both apps were drawing/art apps then perhaps it might be a different story, but that is not the case here. It should also be noted that FiftyThree was not the first developer to call their app “Paper”. There is another app on the iTunes App Store by developer miSoft who claims to be the first app to have the “Paper” moniker, but due to glitches in the system, it allowed other developers to create similar sounding apps as well. Whatever the case is, we hope it all ends amicably.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: Apps, paper