An ibeer please landlord... No actually make that an ipint

MOST IPHONE USERS have at least seen, if not had fun themselves with the iBeer app which gives you a virtual beer – the creator of this ingenuity is now sue beer firm Carling for pinching this application.

Steve Sheraton reckons Carling’s iPint is practically identical to his and wants the courts to sort it out.

Sheraton’s claim is that Carling blatantly copied his idea in order to advertise Carling beer, so he’s suing the brewer for £6 million.

Let’s look at the two next to each other, the iBeer uses the handset’s built-in accelerometer to mimic the motion of beer swilling in a glass while users can imitate drinking this beer by tipping the iPhone back – the application costs £1.79.

Now the iPint does the same as the iBeer, yet it looks more realistic, comes with a beer crate game and will cost you – nothing.

It’s easy to see why Sheraton would be miffed by this app's release – as it is clearly more desirable than his. The downside is that it comes with an advertisement for Carling on the glass, yet the majority will most likely prefer this as it adds realism.

Both applications are available for download from Apple's iTunes Application Store.

According to Wired, Molson Coors approached Mr Sheraton a few months after he released iBeer, asking if it could use the application to advertise its lagers - Sheraton refused the request leading the brewers to produce their own version of the application.

The lawsuit states that, "On information and belief, as iPint increased in popularity, iBeer decreased in popularity since end-users could get ostensibly the same application without a direct cost (besides viewing the Carling advertising) of paying $2.99 for iBeer.”

iPint has now been downloaded more that 6 million times and thus has " significantly impaired the downloading of the iBeer content".

iPint is no longer available in the US after Sheraton’s company, Hottris sent out a cease and desist letter –yet it is still listed on the iTunes store in the UK.

Molson Coors said in a statement, "We are confident that we've handled this matter appropriately, and will vigorously defend the action.”

We know which we'd download. µ