We can watch the things of a new controversy of the technology industry between competitors. Figma sent a ceasefire and decoration letter to the popular AI Lovable start-up, Figma confirmed to TechCrunch.
The letter tells Lovable to stop using the term “dev mode” for a new product mode. Figma, which also has a feature called Dev Mode, successfully trademark the term last year, according to at the US Patent and Trademark Office.
What is wild is that “dev mode” is a common term used in many products that cover software developers. It’s like a processing feature. Software products from giant companies such as Apple’s iOS; Google’s Chrome; Microsoft’s Xbox You have features that are officially called “Developer Mode” that then gets the “Dev Mode” nickname in reference materials.
Even the “Dev function” itself is usually used. For example Atlassian used it in products that pre-daytime Figma ‘Copyright for years. And they are A common name name In countless open source software projects.
Figma tells TechCrunch that its brand only refers to the “Dev Mode” shortcut mode – not the full term “mode developer”. Still, it’s a bit like the brand of the term “error” to refer to “debugging”.
Since Figma wants to own the term, it has few options, but sends letters of pause and decoration. (The letter, so much In x he pointed outIt was also very kind.) If the figma did not defend the term, it could be absorbed as a general term and the brand becomes inappropriate.
Some on the Internet argue that this term is already general, it should never have been allowed to be a brand and say that it should fight. (Loveable has not yet responded to our request for comments about it.)
However, taking over an international legal battle can be expensive for the Swedish starting start. For Lovable, which gathered a $ 15 million seed round in February, changing the feature name to “Mode Developer” or another term would definitely be a less expensive choice.
What is most interesting is that Lovable is one of the rising stars of the so -called “Vibe” coding. There, users can describe what they want at a text prompt and the product creates – complete with code. The “Dev Mode” feature started a few weeks ago to allow users to process this code.
Lovable is advertised as a Figma competitor, declaring Its original page That designers can use Lovable “without tedious work original to tools such as Figma.” And many new entrants are doing just that.
Therefore, this is not just a dispute about the brand. He is also a larger competitor who breaks his joints into an annoying upstart. Figma was worth $ 12.5 billion about a year ago.
A Figma spokesman admits almost so much. The person told TechCrunch that Figma did not send pausing and decoration letters to other technology companies such as Microsoft when their products “are in a different category of goods and services”.
As for the overall threat of Vibe coding products, In a conversation Last month with Y Combinator Garry Tan, Figma Dylan Field’s co-founder CEO of course Pooh-poohed the idea.
Field said that although people like Vibe codify its speed, “you also want to give people a way not to start and start quickly, but also to reach the finish line.
As for the adorable, co -founder Anton Osika also appears indifferent to the letter from a competitor’s lawyer. When a copy of it was shared on x, he used The smiling emoji.
