Higgsfield Sends Comfy a 48-Hour Cease-and-Desist; Comfy Keeps Its $25,000 Challenge Open
Higgsfield objects to the 'Open Source Higgsfield' contest's use of its name and its CEO's likeness. Comfy says the challenge stays up.
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Higgsfield sent Comfy, the company behind the open-source ComfyUI, a cease-and-desist letter demanding that its "Open Source Higgsfield" challenge come down within 48 hours. Comfy refused. Its co-founder Yoland Yan wrote that "the challenge stays up," and Comfy kept its schedule: submissions closed October 30 and winners are due November 6.
Image: Illustrative photo of film cameras and lenses. Luca Bravo / Unsplash via Wikimedia Commons — CC0
What the letter demands
Yan disclosed the letter on X on October 29, saying it had arrived the night before, and attached it. Runtimewire, which first reported the story, cites his post as its primary source.
The letter is dated October 28 and signed by Higgsfield's associate general counsel, according to The Reel Stack and LHC, which reviewed the posted copy. It objects to the use of the HIGGSFIELD trademark in the challenge's title, hashtag and URL. It also objects to the appearance of Higgsfield CEO Alex Mashrabov in the campaign video. Higgsfield argues those elements suggest it is connected to the event, citing trademark infringement and false association under the US Lanham Act, as well as unfair competition.
Per those reports, the letter asks Comfy to stop using the Higgsfield name for the contest, including when announcing winners. It also asks Comfy to take down the video, stop using Mashrabov's likeness, preserve related documents, and confirm compliance in writing within two days. The letter says Higgsfield does not object to open source, to competition, or to accurately naming Higgsfield when comparing products.
Comfy's response
Yan rejected the claim. He wrote that the challenge is clearly organized by ComfyUI and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Higgsfield. He argued its point is to deliver the open release he says Higgsfield promised and never shipped. "One letter isn't going to change that," he wrote. "The challenge stays up."
Comfy's official account added that the challenge would stay open, final submissions would close October 30, and winners would be announced November 6 "with prizes paid as promised."
We found no public reply from Higgsfield. The Reel Stack reported none as of the morning of October 30. A cease-and-desist letter is a demand, not a court ruling.
What the challenge involves
Comfy launched the contest on October 15. Its blog post was titled "Higgsfield promised to open source their entire platform. They didn't, so let's help them." Builders had two weeks to recreate popular Higgsfield-style apps as free, open-source ComfyUI workflows.
| Detail | What Comfy's materials say |
|---|---|
| Prize pool | $25,000 |
| Grand prize | $10,000 cash, best overall |
| Category prizes | GeForce RTX 5090 for Most Innovative, Most Viral and Open Weights Only |
| Runners-up | 10 x $250 in Comfy credits |
| Partner bonuses | LTX ($2,000 cash), FLUX and MiniMax API credits |
| Submissions closed | October 30, 9 a.m. PT |
| Winners announced | November 6 |
Entries must publish code under an open-source license. Only the Open Weights Only category bars partner nodes and closed APIs. Comfy also held in-person build nights in San Francisco on October 28 and Los Angeles on October 29.
Why it matters
Runtimewire frames the dispute as a test of how far open-source developers can go in recreating closed creative products without implying an affiliation the product owner rejects.
The legal claims target the branding, not the code. Higgsfield's letter goes after the name, hashtag, URL and video. The Reel Stack notes that nothing in it targets entrants' workflows, repositories or licenses. That leaves the open question of how Comfy will present winners if Higgsfield escalates over the name.
If you entered or plan to build similar tools:
- Describe your project as an open alternative, and name rival products only for comparison.
- Don't use another company's logo or executives' likeness in promotion.
- Keep your repository's open-source license and setup instructions clear.
- Watch Comfy's channels on November 6 for how winners are announced.
More coverage is on our Artificial Intelligence hub.
How we reported this
We checked the deadline, prize structure and winners date directly on Comfy's challenge page and launch blog post. X blocks our fetch tools, so we confirmed Yan's and Comfy's posts through a mirror and secondary reports. The letter's contents are attributed to The Reel Stack and LHC, which reviewed the copy Yan posted. An earlier draft gave an October 19 deadline; Comfy's page shows October 30. The table is our own summary.
Published and fact-checked October 30, 2026.
Sources
- Runtimewire, "Comfy says Higgsfield sent a 48-hour cease-and-desist over open-source challenge," Oct. 29, 2026 (updated Oct. 30): https://runtimewire.com/article/comfy-says-higgsfield-sent-a-48-hour-cease-and-desist-over-open-source-challenge
- Comfy, "Open Source Higgsfield" challenge page: https://comfy.org/open-source-higgsfield
- Comfy blog, "Higgsfield promised to open source their entire platform. They didn't, so let's help them," Oct. 15, 2026: https://blog.comfy.org/p/higgsfield-promised-to-open-source
- The Reel Stack, "Higgsfield sends Comfy a cease and desist over its challenge": https://thereelstack.com/lab/higgsfield-cease-and-desist-comfy-opensourcehiggsfield-challenge
- LHC, "Higgsfield threatens ComfyUI with legal action, the open-source competition continues regardless": https://www.lhc.media/en/media/ai-watch/higgsfield-threatens-comfyui-with-legal-action-the-open-source-competition-continues-regardless
DailyMech used AI tools to help research and draft this article; it was fact-checked by our editors.