UK company mPowa has withdrawn a picture from its website following a legal threat from Square, the US company that enables users to process payments by attaching a card reader to their mobile handset.  Square sent a cease-and-desist letter complaining a photo on mPowa’s website (pictured) was taken from its own website, according to Techcrunch.

mPowa also offers a service that enables users to process payments using card reader and smartphone although Square made no complaint about its rival’s actual service. mPowa recently launched its service in the US market making it a competitor to Square albeit a significantly smaller one. Meanwhile Square chief executive Jack Dorsey said last week it is about to launch outside the US for the first time although the first international market has not been identified.

Separately, Square's chief technology officer Bob Lee questioned the value propositin of NFC while speaking at the MobileBeat 2012 conference. “With NFC, you have to take your phone out of your pocket, unlock your phone, possibly enter another pin, and then wait for it to beep," he said, as reported by ZDNet.  In contrast Square customers just have to say their names and if their name and photo matches that on the register then the merchant will process their payment.