Judge tosses racially diverse emoji lawsuit against Apple

A judge has thrown out a lawsuit filed against Apple claiming that the company copied its racially diverse emojis from someone else.

From Reuters:

Apple Inc convinced a California federal judge on Wednesday to throw out a lawsuit accusing the tech giant of ripping off another company’s multiracial emoji and violating its intellectual property rights.

Cub Club Investment LLC didn’t show that Apple copied anything that was eligible for copyright protection, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria said.

The judge was reportedly skeptical that the case could succeed because of a number of differences between Apple’s emojis and the plaintiff’s. According to the suit, Katrina Parrott created the iDiversicons app in 2013 which claimed to be the world’s first emojis to feature different skin tones. A partnership with Apple was discussed in 2014 but came to nothing, after which Apple created its own similar set.

A judge ruled that even if the complaint was true and Apple had copied the idea, Parrott’s idea was unprotectable stating “there aren’t many ways that someone could implement this idea. After all, there are only so many ways to draw a thumbs up.”

Apple’s emojis are a key part of communication on its iOS 15 platform across all of its best iPhones. The company is expected to unveil a new iPhone SE at a rumored March event early next month.