As its name indicates, the venerable Text Editor Notepad++ It started out as a more capable version of the classic Windows Notepad, with features like line numbering and syntax highlighting. It was created in 2003 by Don Ho, who remains its main author and maintainer, and has been a Windows exclusive application throughout its existence (earlier versions of Notepad++ supported operating systems as old as Windows 95; the current version officially supports everything dating back to Windows 7).
I’m not a devoted user of the app, but I knew its history, so I was surprised to see the news of a port of “Notepad++ for Mac.” making the rounds last weekas if it were an adaptation of the original available on the Notepad++ website.
This news apparently also surprised Ho, who claims than the Mac version and its author, Andrei Letovare “using” the Notepad++ trademark (the name) without permission.”
“This is misleading, inappropriate, and downright disrespectful to both the project and its users,” Ho wrote. “It has already misled people, including the tech media, into believing this is an official release. To be very clear: Notepad++ has never released a version of macOS. Anyone who claims otherwise is simply relying on the Notepad++ name.”
An ever-increasing back and forth
More communication between Ho and Letov can be found in a Notepad++ GitHub thread, where Ho saying Letov had contacted him before the Notepad++ app for Mac was released, but he hadn’t had time to respond.
“The problem is that using the official name Notepad++ and its logo gives the impression that your project is an official version of macOS maintained or supported by the Notepad++ team, which is not the case,” Ho wrote in an email to Letov that he reposted on GitHub. “This creates (sic) confusion for users and exposes both you and the project to trademark issues.”
