At 11.45am local time on Friday, 13th February 2009, InfoMedia, Inc., developer and marketer of the popular iPhone application iFart Mobile, filed a lawsuit in United States District Court, Colorado, against Air-O-Matic Inc., maker of the competing flatulence app Pull My Finger to try to stop them from claiming trademark rights over the phrase "pull my finger".
It all started when for Joel Comm, CEO of InfoMedia, and his team last summer when they came up with the idea for a fart app for the iPhone. They submitted it to Apple, who took their time in approving it (perhaps because they were not keen for people to begin to view the iPhone as a flatulence-emitting device).
When the app was approved, InfoMedia sent out a press release that summarized the situation: "Placed on review for several months along with other innovative applications, Apple had remained silent as they sought to determine which kinds of applications would be 'appropriate' for their audience. Despite its natural occurrence as a bodily function, Apple had made it clear that they didn't want apps asking people to pull my finger."
Air-O-Matic complained about the last three words of that press release, claiming that InfoMedia was making free and loose with the name of their own raspberry-generating app Pull My Finger. In response, InfoMedia released a revised version of the press release which did not include the phrase.
When Air-O-Matic then attempted to have InfoMedia's application removed from Apple's App Store, Apple told Air-O-Matic that they should work their problems out directly with InfoMedia.
According to the lawsuit, "[a]fter Apple refused to take action regarding the iFart app, AOM [Air-O-Matic], through its counsel, threatened INFOMEDIA directly with suit for infringement and unfair competition demanding immediate payment of tens of thousands of dollars to settle AOM's claims."
Viewing Air-O-Matic's actions and threats as harassment and unlikely to stop, given the greater popularity of iFart Mobile over Pull My Finger, Joel Comm is seeking with his company's lawsuit "[a] declaratory judgment that INFOMEDIA's use of the phrase "pull my finger," and derivations thereof, is lawful and does not infringe on any rights of AOM". (Note: A "declaratory judgment" is basically a way of legally stopping the threatening actions of someone else--it is a way of saying, "either sue me or leave me alone!")
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