https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/issue...
> Every day that website remains active, you are in further violation of the law. I cannot authorize a "week or two" of continued trademark infringement.
> Please take down the domain immediately so you can focus on your rebranding efforts without legal interference. If the site is not removed, I will have no choice but to escalate the takedown request.If you want an editor with the same core as Notepad++, but fewer batteries included and more extensibility, Textadept is worth a look.
Regardless, he absolutely deserves to be shamed on GitHub for this. I don't like the online culture of public shame and sandbagging - I think this GitHub thread should be closed now that it's viral - but sometimes people actually do things they should be ashamed of. This needs to be a tough lesson.
"No, I'm not going to do that."
"Okay fine, I'll report you to Cloudflare now."
"BROOOOOOOO you said you'd give me a week?!?!"
The author is impossibly naive. The best interpretation is they are easy dupes for a supply-chain attack.
Hopefully the word gets around that no one should install this (whether or not the author of the fake version eventually finishes "evolving the branding" of the port).
They didn't even bother removing the links!
There's no coordination.
They contacted me, after it had been up (a Website), and said I needed to stop using it immediately.
They were right. I was wrong. It came down in an hour, and I set up a new site, using a different name, in a day or so.
I offered to give them the domain name. They didn't want it, but that was fine. I stopped using (and paying for) it immediately.
It's not hard to do the right thing, either upfront or once you realize you'd done the wrong thing.
The app started with the first four letters of their app name ("Ambi").
they were probably going after any app that started with those four letters, so they would rank higher in searches. Since they used Apple's service, they could probably have had my app taken down, even though there was no way that their claim had any merit.
In that case, I was planning on changing the app's name, anyway (it wasn't a very good name), but I could see this kind of thing being a huge PItA.
Notepad Next: https://github.com/dail8859/NotepadNext
It’s a (still work in progress) cross platform re-implementation of Notepad++.
It also predates agentic coding, if that’s something that concerns you.
"Objective-Notepad" was right there.
It still is. There's only a handful of hits on Google for that, too.
You should do it. I'd do it if I had a Mac and used Notepad++ ;-)
> Starting with upcoming version 1.0.6, Notepad++ for Mac will be renamed to Nextpad++. The new name is a small nod to Mac history. Before returning to Apple in 1996, Steve Jobs founded NeXT, which became the foundation of what is now macOS.
Given the context of a) trademark infringement and b) framing it as a comeback story, this compliance seems to be malicious.
> Is this the "real" Notepad++ for Mac?
>
> This is the actual Notepad++ codebase ported to run natively on macOS. It is not a knockoff, a Wine wrapper, or a new editor that imitates Notepad++.
Why not just say "No, this is not Notepad++ for Mac. It's my own port of the code from Notepad++." It still sounds like he's trying to pass it off as the actual Notepad++.
"Notepad++ for Mac – Independent community port" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47916964 27-apr-2026 85 comments
"Notepad++ Code Editor Comes to Mac After 20-Year Wait" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47947740 29-apr-2026 36 comments
Which is all to say this story is wild. Sorry, author, this is not Notepad++, and saying otherwise is lying to the end users. Don Ho has a reputation to protect as the real author. This fork has nothing to protect; it could embed a code exporter to shop all your stuff to North Korea without costing its author any rep, because they weren’t starting with any to begin with. I don’t know Ho, I don’t use Windows, and I’ve never used Notepad++, but this lie is dangerous to Ho, and the people using his stuff because they trust his name.
It’s rare you see an IP argument where one side is clearly legally and ethically correct. This is our one for the year, I suspect.
> "My intention was to expand your brand."
Funny he thinks 'expanding' someone else's 'brand' is doing them a favour.
'I inflated your currency! There's more now, you should appreciate!'
In coordination with Don Ho, the creator of the original Notepad++, I'll be evolving the branding of the macOS version so it stands on its own while respecting its lineage. These updates, such as a new logo, a refined name, and likely a new domain will ship with version 1.0.6 in the coming days. Continuity for existing users is a priority, and I'll make the transition as seamless as I can. Thank you for your patience.
https://github.com/nextpad-plus-plus/nextpad-plus-plus-macos
The name was a trademark violation, but the project appears to be compliant with the open source license used by Notepad++.
There are a lot of NPP users out there, and probably the most important thing, given that they use it to edit all their files, is that they can trust the software. Some rando out of nowhere saying they've written "NPP for Mac" is red flag central.
MALICIOUS BINARY!
Did we learn nothing from the xz malware fiasco? One update quietly pushed out at night while nobody's paying attention and boom.
I have a project with only ~600 stars. someone approached me want to contribute an adjacent project to be part of "official suite" and do rev share on my donation, and she already purchased a domain with a different TLD.
Fortunately, she agreed with my recommendation of using her brand and maintain her own donation jar, she still owns that domain but not using it so far.
However the author says he will "move from the branding".
Source: having been in ex-USSR through all of 1990s and 2000s.
^ https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/hijacked-incident-info-up...
If the author of "Notepad++ for Mac" doesn't happen to be French as well, is there anything (legally) preventing them from using this trademark?
Hopefully the domain and the app on the app store gets taken down soon.
He seems to have enough experience to know how trademarks work
To takedown something that is infringing your brand, you would have to spend time and money dealing with bureaucratic procedures.
Author of Mac notepad github repo claims he worked there, https://aletik.me/ (1 month old personal website), he also has new Github and new Linkedin. https://github.com/aletik
If someone has reverse image search platform, use his github profile picture. There is another Linkedin profile, with same guy, but slightly different picture.
Other GPL projects have unofficial forks that didn't change the name or logo for the software in the process, and it mostly seems fine. FreeBSD ports are probably a good example of these in the wild.
Listing the original author as an author of the port is a requirement of the GPL, and the language used on this website makes it clear that Dan is the original author of the Windows release, and not the developer of the Mac release.
The only thing I see as an issue here is how the author of the port, Andrey, has failed to directly indicate that this is an unofficial port anywhere on the website, and is promoting this as if it were official. He does seem to be some engaging in some shameless self-promotion, and I understand how the open source community would not appreciate someone vibe-porting a popular GPL tool, and then acting like they own part of the official project now.
In that respect, I do see a trademark violation.
FreeBSD ports are nearly always tiny patches on a project together it to compile on that OS, and look for its config in /usr/local/etc instead of /etc. It is the original software plus minimal tweaks. Linux distros do the exact same thing. When you install a Debian package, you’re getting Debian’s patched version. Same for RedHat, Homebrew, and nearly every other package manager.
The fork we’re discussing here is a rewrite of the original in a different language while still calling it the original name.
e) Declining to grant rights under trademark law for use of some trade names, trademarks, or service marks; or
If he did not, it would appear to this non-lawyer that he released the icon and branding under the GPL.
GPL v3 e7 means that, if for whatever reason, you do explicitly disclaim trademark grants, it does not violate or invalidate the copyright license.