The folks behind the immensely popular iOS retro game emulator, Delta, have been compelled to rapidly change the app’s brand after receiving authorized threats from Adobe and warnings from Apple.
On April 7, Apple changed its app store rules and started permitting retro online game emulators onto its digital storefront. Inside only a few days, a few of the hottest apps on the App Retailer had been emulators. A type of new apps shooting up the charts is the multi-console emulator Delta, which has a decade-long historical past. Its creator, Riley Testut, recently spoke with Kotaku, sharing his hopes that the emulator can lead the cost into a brand new, higher future for retro gaming. However first, earlier than that every one occurs, Delta should discover a new brand.
As reported by The Verge, on Could 17, the Delta emulator on iOS was up to date to model 1.5.4. And within the patch notes for this replace, there’s a message indicating that Adobe—the corporate behind Photoshop and Premiere—had despatched Delta a authorized menace.
“Adobe threatened authorized motion except we modified our app icon—so we did! Hope y’all prefer it,” defined Delta’s developer within the patch notes.

Testut spoke to The Verge in regards to the scenario, explaining that all of it occurred actually quick throughout just a few emails. This all began on Could 7, when Adobe’s attorneys despatched Testut a “agency” however “kindly written” e-mail requesting Delta change its icon, explaining that the emulator would possibly “not want to confuse shoppers or in any other case violate Adobe’s rights or the regulation.”
However earlier than Testut may reply, the following day Apple despatched Delta an e-mail and advised that the emulator may be in danger after it was contacted by Adobe, which alleged that Delta was infringing on its IP.
“We responded to each Apple and Adobe explaining our icon was a stylized Greek letter delta—not an A—however that we’d replace the Delta brand anyway to keep away from confusion,” Testut advised The Verge.
The present Delta icon on the App Retailer now’s only a momentary one. The plan is to launch a brand new everlasting brand sooner or later alongside replace 1.6. As identified by the outlet, Delta’s outdated icon most intently resembled Adobe’s Cloud Expertise app icon. For the reason that ‘80s, most of Adobe’s logos and branding have included a stylized A that includes a spot, a design that does look just like Delta’s outdated, now-defunct icon.
Hopefully, Delta’s subsequent icon doesn’t share something in widespread with another big and litigious company.