Yo wants copycat app booted out of App Store

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Micro-messaging app Yo is currently facing hordes of ripoff artist trying to steal its simple-but-effective concept.
Micro-messaging app Yo is currently facing hordes of ripoff artist trying to steal its simple-but-effective concept.

Where there’s a popular idea, you can be sure the clones will follow. Earlier this year the popular app in question was Flappy Bird, and here in July it’s simplified message app Yo, which has to date received $1.5m in funding.

A few weeks back we wrote about Yo spoof Hodor, but it seems that there’s another more pressing clone out there, called Yolo, which Yo founder Or Arbel describes as “a complete fake copy of our Yo app.”

In response to Yolo, Arbel has filed a complaint with Apple, asking it to remove Yolo from the App Store since it allegedly infringes on Arbel’s copyright and trademark.

Yolo’s founder claims his app (which lets users send times) is “more of a game and competition,” and the only similarity is the (admittedly practically identical) user interface.

We’ll report back when we hear some news. As unlikely a hit as it undoubtedly is, Yo has proven something of a smash — with some pundits even claiming it could have the makings of a (yes, really!) $1 billion platform.

Source: TechCrunch

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