We might be seeing the start of a new fight in the tech world between companies that compete. Figma has sent a legal letter to a popular new AI company called Lovable. The letter tells Lovable to stop doing certain things. Figma confirmed this to TechCrunch.

The letter tells Lovable to stop using the name 'Dev Mode' for a new product feature. Figma also has a feature called Dev Mode and officially trademarked that name last year.

It's interesting that "dev mode" is a normal name used in many products for programmers. It's similar to an edit mode. Software from big companies like Apple's iOS, Google's Chrome, and Microsoft's Xbox have features officially called "developer mode", which people often call "dev mode".

Even "dev mode" is a common term. For example, Atlassian used it in their products before Figma had a copyright. It's also a common name for features in many open-source software projects.

Figma told TechCrunch that their trademark is only for the short name "Dev Mode," not the full phrase "developer mode."

Figma must send letters telling people to stop using the word, or they might lose the right to own it.

Some people online believe this word is too common and shouldn't have been trademarked, and they say Lovable should challenge it.

Lovable's co-founder and CEO, Anton Osika, told TechCrunch that his company does not plan to agree to Figma's request and change the feature's name at this time.

We will see if Figma takes stronger action. It is also thinking about other things. On Tuesday, Figma said it had secretly filed papers to become a public company. However, if Figma takes legal action, fighting an international legal battle could be expensive for Lovable, the new Swedish company, which raised $15 million in February.

Also, Lovable is becoming well-known for something called "vibe coding." This means users write a description of what they want, and the program creates it, including the code. A new feature called "dev mode" was added recently, so users can change the code themselves.

Lovable says it is a competitor to Figma. On its website, it says designers can use Lovable "without tiring prototyping work in programs like Figma." Many new companies are doing this.

So this isn't only a trademark problem. It's also about a larger competitor getting ready to fight a small, annoying new company. Figma was worth $12.5 billion around a year ago.

Someone from Figma almost agreed. They told TechCrunch that Figma has not sent legal letters to companies like Microsoft about using the word, because their products are a different kind of product and service.

Osika from Lovable is ready to compete. He told TechCrunch that Figma should focus on making their product good, not just on marketing. He also said that Lovable is getting customers from Figma and other design tools made before LLMs.

When asked about the danger of vibe coding products, Figma's co-founder and CEO, Dylan Field, quickly dismissed the idea in a conversation last month with Garry Tan from Y Combinator.

Field said that people like vibe coding because it's fast, but you also need a way to finish the project, not just start quickly. He thinks the problem is not just in design, but also in code.

Osika also seems ready to compete. He shared a copy of Figma's letter on X and used a grinning emoji.