The creator of Notepad++ has disavowed an unofficial Mac port after discovering the developer used the trademarked name without permission and built the app using Anthropic's Claude AI.

Don Ho, who created the Windows text editor in 2003, called the Mac version "misleading, inappropriate, and frankly disrespectful" in a statement posted to the Notepad++ website. The port, created by developer Andrey Letov, has already fooled tech media into believing it was an official release.

"Notepad++ has never released a macOS version," Ho wrote. "Anyone claiming otherwise is simply riding on the Notepad++ name."

The dispute escalated when Ho contacted Letov about trademark infringement. Letov initially asked for "a couple of weeks" to make changes, claiming his port would "expand notepad++ brand to mac."

Ho lost patience with the request and reported the trademark violation to Cloudflare. "Every day that website remains active, you are in further violation of the law," he wrote in a GitHub thread.

AI-Generated Code Raises Questions

Letov confirmed to Ars Technica that he used Claude CLI with "some customizations to run multiple agents" to create both the app and website. He also mentioned using "Codex plugin for VSS" and running agents that scan for issues and create implementation options.

The port appeared thoughtful at first glance, supporting macOS versions back to Big Sur on both Intel and Apple Silicon. It featured a native Cocoa interface rather than a wrapper and was properly notarized for easy installation.

But Letov's GitHub activity showed commits exclusively from March and April 2026, raising questions about the project's sustainability.

Letov has begun rebranding the app as "NextPad++" with a frog icon instead of the original lizard logo. However, version 1.0.5 still carries the Notepad++ branding and remains available for download.

The original Notepad++ remains Windows-exclusive, with current versions supporting systems back to Windows 7.