MINNEAPOLIS—As details of Snap Inc.’s planned initial public offering hit the media Friday, a small Minneapolis-based company that makes reading glasses was in the midst of ramping up a legal battle against the large tech firm formerly known as Snapchat.

Eyebobs, a 16-year-old company specializing in fashionable readers, filed a motion Feb. 2 in the U.S. District Court of Minnesota seeking a preliminary injunction against Snap’s use of the distinctive yellow eyeball logo. The move follows a trademark infringement lawsuit Eyebobs filed in December against Snap.

News of the court battle between the two companies comes just as Snap filed registration papers for its IPO, which some reports noted indicates a value of $20 billion to $25 billion for the messaging and video tech company used by an estimated 158 million people daily around the world.

The preliminary injunction sought last week asks the court to “enjoin Snap Inc. from further use of the infringing mark in connection with its “Spectacles” product,” according to a statement released by Eyebobs. The injunction also seeks to prohibit the use of the logo by Snap with any vending machines selling Snap’s “Spectacles” video-recording sunglasses and a Fifth Avenue pop-up store in New York City, according to the statement.

The logos of both companies show an eyeball in a circle against a bright yellow background. Eyebobs, in its trademark lawsuit, said it registered a trademark for a black-and-white version of the eyeball logo in 2008 (although it first used the mark in 2001) and that it filed registration documents for a yellow-colored version in August 2016. In both cases, the logo was intended as a “mark for use in connection with eyewear and optician’s services,” according to the lawsuit.

Snap representatives could not be reached for comment on the lawsuit at press time Friday.

In its statement last week, Eyebobs said Snap began advertising, distributing and selling its “Spectacles” brand sunglasses in September 2016 “under an eyeball design mark, an eyeball against a yellow background. This eyeball design directly infringes on Eyebobs’ logo, which has represented Eyebob’s brand since 2001 and registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office since 2008.”

Eyebobs also noted that when it was first made aware of Snap’s use of the eyeball design “as the centerpiece of the high-profile roll out of its own “Spectacles” brand, Eyebobs contacted Snap Inc. immediately in an attempt to handle the situation amicably,” according to the statement.

“Regrettably, Snap Inc. has been unwilling to take this infringement seriously and Eyebobs now has to take the necessary steps to address the situation to defend and protect the company’s trademark in court,” James Steffen, a partner at the law firm Faegre Baker Daniels, said in the statement. “Snap Inc.’s attempt to cement consumer association of the infringing mark with its ‘Spectacles’ product stands to inflict irreparable damage on the Eyebobs’ brand and company.”

In its lawsuit, Eyebobs is seeking to have Snap Inc. discontinue using the eyeball logo and also to recover monetary damages of an amount “to be proven at trial.”

Eyebobs, as reported on its website, in March 2015 “joined forces with Norwest Equity Partners, a leading middle market investment firm,” in a plan designed to raise investment capital and “fuel our next stage of growth.”