Last Thursday, InfoMedia Inc., which developed the "iFart Mobile" program for the iPhone, filed a complaint for declaratory judgment against rival Air-O-Matic Inc., asking a federal court to rule that the phrase "pull my finger" is a "common descriptive phrase."

According to e-mails submitted to the court, InfoMedia was accused by Air-O-Matic of infringing the latter's trademark rights when it used "pull my finger" in its press release and other marketing materials, including text on its App Store listing within . Air-O-Matic is the maker of "Pull My Finger," another iPhone program that generates sounds of passing gas.

Previously, Air-O-Matic had complained to , which decides which applications are allowed into the App Store, and asked Apple to pull InfoMedia's software.

Calling InfoMedia's use of the phrase an "abuse of our trademark," a lawyer for Air-O-Matic asked Apple in early January 2009 to remove iFart Mobile from the online mart and strip InfoMedia of its iPhone developer rights, according to a copy of an e-mail included in the complaint. The lawyer also accused InfoMedia of "planting negative reviews of the apps of his competitors and positive reviews of his own ... and disparaging his competition with testimonials," as well as communicating with its own users via .

Apple eventually told the two companies to work out the problem between themselves, according to another e-mail attached to the complaint.