Our client, Sarafan Mobile Limited, is a successful developer of mobile applications for editing photos and videos. Sarafan was just starting to gain traction with its apps on Google Play when, in June 2024, Google notified Sarafan that Instagram had filed a complaint claiming that the logo of one of Sarafan’s apps, Reely, looked too similar to Instagram’s Reels logo. Google directed Sarafan to resolve the complaint directly with Meta, Instagram’s parent company.

In response, Sarafan immediately revised its app icon to minimize any similarity to the Reels logo and notified Meta of it. However, Meta never responded to Sarafan, and Google deleted the Reely app from its Play Store ten days later. Sarafan thus instantly lost $15,500 of monthly recurring revenues that Reely generated and was left with no opportunity to challenge Google’s decision or Meta’s complaint short of litigation.

Having analyzed the facts, we determined that both Google and Meta were liable to Sarafan. By simply deleting the Reely app, Google was liable for breach of its own contract with developers in that it failed to investigate the claims Meta made in its complaint and to provide a meaningful opportunity to challenge the complaint. Meta’s liability stemmed from its baseless complaint filed with Google, since Meta’s trademarks REELS and the accompanying logo are generic and do not grant Meta the right to prohibit others from using these or similar marks. Meta also several times misrepresented to Sarafan that the complaint filed with Google was fake and a scam, sowing confusion about its authenticity and delaying Sarafan’s efforts to remedy the situation.

Armed with this analysis, we opted to file not just a complaint against Google and Meta in federal court, but to also seek a temporary restraining order that Google must reinstate the Reely app while the lawsuit is pending. Unlike a regular suit, such a strategy puts the case on an expedited schedule and forces a near-immediate response from defendants, which is what happened in this case.

Urged by the judge assigned to the case, the parties quickly came to the negotiating table. As a result of these efforts, a settlement was reached that provided for reinstatement of Sarafan’s app on Google Play. Sarafan then dismissed the lawsuit.

The case is Sarafan Mobile Limited v. Google LLC and Meta Platforms, Inc., 5:24-cv-06038-EJD (N.D. Cal. 2024).