Apple Loses Bid for Attorneys’ Fees in ‘Memoji’ Trademark Win

Social Technologies LLC’s creation of a “Memoji” phone app just to file a trademark suit against Apple Inc. didn’t justify attorneys’ fees for Apple, even though a San Francisco federal court called it an “exceedingly close question.”

Social Tech’s lawsuit alleged that it released its Memoji app three months before Apple released personalized Memoji avatars for iOS messaging. The court ruled for Apple on Social Tech’s trademark claims in December, finding Social Tech never used the Memoji trademark in commerce in good faith.

The court said Social Tech “cobbled together a minimally functional (and frequently dysfunctional) app with the sole ...