Coors are facing a $12.5 million lawsuit filed by Hottrix, a small company who develops “tricks” for mobile phones, and has alleged Coors has committed a copyright infringement by copying Hottrix’s Apple iPhone app iBeer.

Both Coors iPint and Hottrix’s iBeer display a glass of beer on an iPhone screen that when tilted the beer disappears, and both applications launched at the Apple iTune App Store on 11th July.
The major difference between the two is that Coors iPint is free while Hottrix’s iBeer is $3.00.

An attorney from Buchalter Nemer, representing Hottrix said Hottrix had tried to meet an amicable solution with Coors but the result was negative and then Hottrix approached Apple, who pulled iPint from their App Store in the US but is still available in other countries.

The 12 page lawsuit states that the iBeer technique was a “wholly original … and is copyrightable subject matter.”

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