We might be witnessing the emergence of a new tech industry conflict between competing companies. Figma has confirmed to TechCrunch that it has issued a cease and desist letter to the popular no-code AI startup, Lovable.

In this letter, we request that Lovable cease using the term "Dev Mode" as the name for a new product feature. Figma itself has a feature with the identical name, "Dev Mode," and secured a trademark for that term through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last year.

Remarkably, 'dev mode' stands as a prevalent term within numerous software products tailored for programmers, akin to an editing mode; even major corporations like Apple, Google, and Microsoft incorporate a formally designated 'developer mode' within their software offerings, occasionally abbreviated as 'dev mode' in reference materials.

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

Figma told TechCrunch that the trademark is only for the shortcut "Dev Mode," not the full phrase "developer mode." They said this is like trademarking the word "bug" but not the word "debugging."

Figmaがこの言葉を自分たちだけのものにしたいなら、使用をやめるように手紙を送るしかありません。もしFigmaがこの言葉を守らなければ、それは誰でも使える一般的な言葉になり、商標として使えなくなる可能性があります。

Certain online commentators argue that this term is already prevalent and should never have been granted trademark protection, asserting that Lovable ought to challenge this.

Anton Osika, the co-founder and CEO of Lovable, has stated to TechCrunch that the company currently has no intention of complying with Figma's demands and altering the feature name.

Figmaがこの状況をさらに悪化させるかどうかは分かりません。さらに、Figmaには他にも重要な問題があります。火曜日にFigmaはIPOのための秘密書類を提出したと発表しました。しかし、もしFigmaが訴訟を起こした場合、今年2月に1500万ドルのシード資金を集めた初期段階のスウェーデンのスタートアップであるLovableにとって、国際的な裁判は非常に費用がかかる可能性があります。

さらに興味深いのは、Lovableが「vibe coding」と呼ばれる新しい方法の重要なプレーヤーとして現れていることです。vibe codingでは、ユーザーはテキストでやりたいことを説明し、システムはその指示に従ってコードを含む製品を作ります。特に、同社は数週間前に「dev mode」という機能を発表し、ユーザーが作られたコードを編集できるようになりました。

Lovable says it competes with Figma. On its website, it claims designers can use Lovable to avoid the difficult prototyping work they do with Figma. Many new startups are saying similar things.

Consequently, this issue is not just about a trademark dispute. It also shows that a major competitor is being careful about a new company that was valued at $12.5 billion about a year ago.

A spokesperson for Figma expressed a similar viewpoint, stating to TechCrunch that they had not sent cease and desist letters to other technology companies, such as Microsoft, because their products "belong to different categories of goods and services."

Furthermore, Lovable's Osika asserts to TechCrunch that Figma should concentrate on enhancing the quality of its own products, rather than dedicating time to trademark marketing. He also claims Lovable has successfully acquired customers from Figma and other design tools developed prior to the advent of LLMs.

vibe coding製品が脅威になるかという点について、先月、Figmaの共同創業者でCEOのDylan Field氏は、Y CombinatorのGarry Tanとの会話で、その考えを否定しました。Field氏は、vibe codingの速さは良いが、「ただ始めてすぐに試作品を作るだけでなく、最終的に完成させられる方法が必要だ。これはデザインとコードの両方に共通する問題だ」と述べました。

Despite this setback, Osika has signaled his continued determination to compete, adding a grinning emoji when he shared a copy of Figma's letter on X.