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Unofficial Notepad++ Mac Port Rebrands as Nextpad++ After Trademark Dispute

The rebrand underscores how open‑source code reuse does not permit use of a project's protected name.

Overview

  • The macOS port, which settled a trademark dispute Wednesday, now uses the Nextpad++ name and a new icon.
  • Don Ho, who created Notepad++ in 2003, objected to the unauthorized use of his trademark and his biography on the app’s site.
  • Nextpad++ bills itself as an independent community port built with Objective‑C++ on Scintilla and Cocoa, released as a universal binary for Apple silicon and Intel Macs.
  • The download is free under the GNU General Public License, and the project emphasizes feature parity with Notepad++ such as tabbed editing, macros, plugins, and syntax highlighting for more than 80 languages.
  • John Gruber criticized the app’s non‑native feel and, citing the site’s claim that development began March 10 with a 1.0 release weeks later, suggested the rapid build likely relied on AI tools.