Facebook announced its new, gorgeous mobile app Paper last week, paving the way to today’s launch on iOS. It’s already an impressive new way of navigating Facebook. However, the company is now in hot water over the name, since Paper by FiftyThree, a well-regarded app in the App Store, has been around since 2012.
If you go to Google and type in the word “paper,” the top result doesn’t have anything to do with traditional pulpy vellum. Instead, it links to the well-known app Paper, which allows you to sketch on your iPad just as you can in a traditional notebook. But that might not be the case for long. Last week Facebook announced a new product that it plans to release on Monday called … wait for it … Paper. The (non-Facebook) Paper app is made by a small Seattle- and New York-based start-up, FiftyThree, which is not too happy about Facebook’s new app. The company has gotten in touch with Facebook asking it to change the name of the upcoming app. On Monday FiftyThree released a public statement on its website asking Facebook to refrain from using the name.
