Hello everyone,
I have great news to share: After three months of fighting, our Chatbox app is finally back on the U.S. App Store! 🎉
What happened?
In April 2025, another company with an app of the same name filed a dispute with Apple, claiming they held a trademark for the word “Chatbox.”
I believe this claim was baseless, because:
"Chatbox" is a widely used, generic word across the internet, and their trademark application had already been initially rejected by the USPTO.
We were the first to use “Chatbox” as the name for AI software, starting in March 2023 right here on GitHub.
However, Apple’s legal team accepted their claim and removed our app from the store on June 17.
Taking legal action
We decided to take the matter to federal court. The court ruled in our favor and issued an order to Apple on August 29 to restore our app within 7 days. After about two weeks, Apple finally notified us that the app was back online.
Why this matters
This is a victory against trademark bullying and an important win for our community. We stood our ground, defended our rights, and made sure our app—and its name—stayed ours.
Thank you all for your ongoing support throughout this challenging journey!
— Chatbox Dev Team