When you've been covering branding and design for as long as we have, you know that logo disputes are as common as the rain. Most trademark infringement battles follow the same formula: corporate behemoth takes on plucky upstart whose logo looks nothing like its own (see: Apple vs Prepear). This time Adobe is Goliath, with iOS game emulator Delta taking the role of David. But it's a rare instance in which we think the bigger brand might have a point.
It was big news last month when, thanks to a change in Apple's rules, video game emulators began to emerge from the underground and hit the official iOS App Store. The biggest is Delta, which runs games for the likes of the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS. But with more exposure comes more scrutiny, and Adobe was quick to file a claim against Delta's stylised 'A' logo. (Looking for design inspiration? Check out the best logos of all time.)
Delta's "broken" icon on the App Store is the most clever response to Adobe we'll ever see. https://t.co/L5hCRKLFEa pic.twitter.com/Z6W9wcuDiRMay 19, 2024
lmfao Delta (the Nintendo emulator) had to update their app icon after Adobe threatened legal action pic.twitter.com/GE2tYbgGEpMay 17, 2024
To be fair, it's basically the same design. While, according to Gizmodo, Delta has claimed its symbol to be a stylised version of the Greek Delta symbol as opposed to Adobe's 'A', both feature an upwards-pointing triangle with half a crossbar at the bottom. Said crossbar is even sliced at the same angle.
Somewhat hilariously, Delta has responded to the dispute by releasing a temporary new logo, in which the top of the logo appears to have been sliced clean off. "Adobe is threatening legal action because they think our logos are too similar — so we changed it!" Delta announced on Mastodon. "This new icon is an inspired design by Caroline Moore (@carolinemoore@threads.net), we hope y’all love it as much as we do." The developer says it's releasing the "final" version of its new logo when Delta 1.6 is released.
From Walmart vs Kanye to Rockstar vs Remedy, we've seen plenty of bizarre branding rows in recent years. For our pick of the best, take a look at the wildest logo disputes ever.
