Hands off my trademark! Notepad++ dev threatens legal action against macOS port

It's not the fork that's the problem, it's the attempt to make it look official, says original Notepad++ dev Don Ho

Notepad++ remains a Windows-only app, at least under that name. The beloved developer-focused, open-source text editor recently was ported to macOS by a third party. However, developer Don Ho wants to be perfectly clear that, no matter how convincing the new project might look, it's not official. 

It was mid April when the aptly-named Notepad++ for Mac started getting noticed, and at first glance one could be forgiven for thinking that this was an official release. Its website [cached copy] had the familiar wonky-eyed chameleon logo associated with the text editor and a near identical domain name to the original (with only the word "-mac" appended before the top-level domain). 

This vulture, admittedly, even briefly thought the same when he spotted the site recently.

"Notepad++ is now natively available for macOS," a cached version of the site from April 27 opens with. "No Wine, no emulation. A full native port for Apple Silicon and Intel Macs."

Ho is even mentioned on cached versions of the website's author page where he's listed below Andrey Letov, the person behind this particular macOS port of Notepad++, all of which makes it seem like Ho was at the very least on board with the project.

You'd have to scroll a bit further to find mention of the fact that Notepad++ for macOS was "an independent open-source community port of Notepad++ to macOS" that "is not affiliated with Don Ho or the official Notepad++ team," and it's that under-the-breath admission that has Ho upset. 

At first, Ho said in a GitHub issues thread about Letov's port, he was happy to see someone create "a Notepad++-like editor, built on the Notepad++ code base," for macOS users. At the same time, however, Ho said something about the project "felt off" - namely the fact that it was using his logo, his branding, a look-alike domain, and listing him as an affiliated author while barely mentioning that it's an independent port. 

"I've just written to Andrey Letov to request that he changes his product/project name & logo to remove the misleading presentation & the resulting confusion," Ho said. He asked Letov to get rid of the branding, change the project's name, and not make it appear as if Ho himself was affiliated with the port. 

"The problem is specifically the trademark and the misleading presentation, not the open‑source code itself," Ho told The Register in an email. 

Letov was quick to jump to his own defense in the GitHub thread, claiming that he had no intention of giving the impression his project was an official derivative of Notepad++, but Ho wasn't having it. 

"A small number of users are vigilant and read your website to learn the history," Ho explained in a response to Letov. "But most people they will simply download your product & use it without reading your clarification, and will believe it is the official Notepad++ release."

As for working with Letov, Ho said he's not going to consider integrating this macOS release into an official release, and he's not going to endorse the project either, despite Letov's hope he would. In the worst case, a product with the Notepad++ name on it could distribute malware or a backdoor, Ho told us. 

"Even if that never happens, I cannot take responsibility for the long term maintenance of a port or fork that I do not manage," Ho said in an email. "Any critical issues, crashes or security vulnerabilities in that external project could damage the reputation of Notepad++ itself." 

In other words, you can fork and port Notepad++ all you want - Ho said he released it under GPL for that very reason - but he's not going to put his name, or his branding, on any of those forks.

Letov complied, albeit only to a degree. As of this writing, the Notepad++ for Mac website [cached version from 4 May] includes a banner message indicating that he intends to change the name and logo "in coordination with Don Ho," and will change the domain name at Ho's request as well. The introduction text now also clearly states that Notepad++ for Mac is "a full native independent port" of Notepad++. 

Despite what the banner may say, however, Ho insisted to us that he's not working with Letov on anything to do with the rebranding process. 

"I'm not working with Andrey Letov on any rebranding," Ho told us. "On the contrary, despite being informed that his use of the Notepad++ trademark is unlawful, he continues to use the 'Notepad++' name on his website. I will take the necessary legal steps to protect the trademark."

Letov asked Ho to give him a couple of weeks to take care of the process to transition to the new branding, domain, and the like, but Ho asked him to take the website down immediately, reporting the matter to Cloudflare for trademark infringement.

"I cannot authorize a 'week or two' of continued trademark infringement," Ho said in the GitHub thread. 

"Please take down the domain immediately so you can focus on your rebranding efforts without legal interference," Ho continued. "If the site is not removed, I will have no choice but to escalate the takedown request."

The page is still up as of writing. We reached out to Letov to learn what he plans to do, but didn't hear back. ®