Trademark violation: Fake Notepad++ for Mac

omblivion

It is astonishing how blatant people can be. How do they imagine they won't be immediately called out? Hopefully the domain and the app on the app store gets taken down soon.

karel-3d

The app seems to be entirely vibe-coded. ("multi-agent AI development workflows are what make a one-person project at this scale practical") However the author says he will "move from the branding".

HelloUsername

Related discussions: "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

FinnKuhn

Using the trademark is one thing. The authors brazen reaction another: https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/issue...

f3408fh

FFS. I installed it after seeing it here on HN and on MacRumors. Terrible failure on my part but MacRumors should offer an apology for endorsing this fake release.

krzyzanowskim

becase there is only one Notepad.exe https://notepadexe.com on the mac

RedShift1

Is notepad++ a registered trademark?

x187463

Just needs to update the site to make it clear it's an independent port of the project. Then, modify the name to MacPad++ or something. Good to go.

andai

Not to be confused with https://notepadexe.com/

gverrilla

It's the Trump pattern: break all rules to benefit yourself until someone or something stops you. USA has not yet reached this clarity.

ares623

(posting my comment from the other thread) Hilarious. How long does it take to vibecode the requests to change the logo and name. Vibecoding a port from scratch is super fast as long as you don't need permission huh. Then when the adults ask you to not infringe on copyright, it's all "please be patient guys. I am boy. Give me one week pls."

Bender

A similar thing happened for OTR recently. [1] Is the AI naming the vibe coded projects? Many of these are getting submitted to /newest [1] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47997919

KORraN

Original announcement and discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47916964

albertzeyer

Why not just getting the changes/extensions upstream, welcome the Mac dev on the team, and make it an official port?

i_think_so

Plenty of very thoughtful comments so far about copyright, community, developers who might not speak English as a first language, .... Very few people mentioning the obvious: 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.

temporallobe

I wasn’t even aware a native port was available for Mac. I tried it with Wine and it was awful. These days my colleagues and I are using Zed as the de facto high-performance text editor.

yokoprime

I would not trust this "Notepad++ for Mac" at all. The author of the "port", aka Vibe Coded slop, Andrey Letov has absolutely zero commits anywhere before he suddenly vibes up this mac release. He brands it as an official Notepad++ version, is slimy in the way he interacts with the Notepad++ team etc. I would not be surprised if theres some sort of back door or malware attack vector embedded in this software. Stay away! Remember the XZ Utils backdoor!

yahyabahhaoui

whats the point on doing that? is it a malware or some kind of trojan?

redbell

Visiting the referenced website ( https://notepad-plus-plus-mac.org/ ), the first thing I see is a big, green Announcement that says: 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. Did Don Ho really coordinated with this author?! If no then why he lies and he knows he is lying? Where this path leads to?! Really weird times to be alive!!

Fokamul

Anyone from Moody's, BNY, AxiomSL, Amex. Who knew "Andrey Letov" and can contact him on his personal email/phone to verify? 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.