Apple is being sued over iPhone X's new 'Animoji' feature

Weeks before the iPhone X is scheduled to be released, Apple is being hit with a lawsuit over a feature on the company's 10th anniversary phone. The phone's new TrueDepth camera has introduced many new features including Face ID and portrait lighting modes. Another feature the company announced is "Animoji" which allows users to create and share emojis that follow their Facial Expressions.

Trademark trouble

According to Reuters, a Japanese Software Company, Emonster kk, is suing Apple over their new "Animoji" feature ahead of the iPhone X's release.

The company filed a lawsuit in a San Francisco court this week. In the suit, Emonster kk claims that using the name "Animoji" is a case of deliberate infringement as they hold the trademark rights to the term in the US.

When the feature was announced with the new generation of iPhones in September, Apple's CMO Phil Schiller called it one of the iPhone X's best features. According to Reuters, he said that the expression-based emojis are a great way of communicating feelings through texts.

The original Animoji

Enrique Bonansea, CEO of Emonster kk, released an app titled "Animoji" back in 2014. The app is available on Apple's app store and allows users to text with animated emojis. The emojis featured in the app simply move and are not representative of users' facial expressions, but that isn't the point of the lawsuit.

While Apple's feature may be completely different to the app, Bonansea is suing due to his ownership of the "Animoji" trademark.

Emonster kk's CEO claims that Apple knew about the app before they announced their new feature. The company allegedly attempted to buy the trademark earlier this year but decided to use the name anyway after they were turned down.

According to The Verge, Apple filed a petition to strip Emonster kk of the trademark in September before it announced its new generation of iPhones. The Japanese software company apparently made an error when filing the trademark, registering it to a non-existent business which leads Apple to believe they can't actually own the term.

Emonster kk's lawsuit is demanding that Apple changes the name of their brand new feature and pay an unnamed sum on money for the "damages" it has caused.

Apple has currently not spoken out about the lawsuit that was filed on Wednesday. The company is still on track to release the iPhone X with the "Animoji" feature at the end of October. After seeing disappointing sales numbers for the iPhone 8, Apple expects to see a huge success with the 10th-anniversary edition phone.