I'm glad someone else posted they were being pursued by Twitters Legal representatives apart from myself.
(I'm still waiting for answers to my questions so nothing new to report here).
Do you feel that their real beef is using the word "Twit" in your URL?
I put a counter proposal to Twitters legal representative to rename my application www.MyTweetButler.com which as per Biz Stone's blog post of July 1st he indicated he was very happy with 3rd party developers to use the word "Tweet"
http://blog.twitter.com/2009/07/may-tweets-be-with-you.html#links
There have also been discussions online that although Twitter inc have applied for a trademark for Tweet (not granted yet) that the term was actually coined by an end user so Twitter would actually have a lot of problems if they decided to pursue people with the word Tweet in their name.
Do you think that this will satisfy them?
Regards,
Dean Collins
de...@MyTwitterButler.com
+1-212-203-4357 New York
+61-2-9016-5642 (Sydney in-dial).
+44-20-3129-6001 (London in-dial).
Hmmm... outsourcing trademark checking seems to have pitfalls
(i.e. eating into company goodwill).
It makes you really stop and think about building a business
around someone's API doesn't it - that's what we're doing right now,
but it encourages me to diversify pretty darn fast. I suppose it was
naive of me not to consider just how much you can be beholden to the
API owner in the first place.
It doesn't put me off working with Twitter, but it does make me want
to get some more baskets for these eggs :-)
Thanks for letting us know your situation and good luck.
All the best
Neil
Law firms bill by the hour.
On 14 Aug 2009, at 00:44, Goblin wrote:
>
> To be fair, the new version mostly seemed to please the guy I was on
> the phone with, but I got the impression he was shooting from the hip
> when he said that I would probably need to change the blue in the
> logo.
>
I get the picture :-) and that seems to be the price of outsourcing the
legals - i.e. the people enforcing in it have no personal stake in the
community and relations. As you say later, clarification would be good.
> It just seems weird that we spend two or three years building sites
> with the twit/tweet theme running so it is clear they are add-ons to
> Twitter and *then* the lawyers decide to get antsy. I know Twitter is
> in the position that if they don't act to protect their trademarks
> they can lose them, but it would be nice if we were told a few months
> back "Look guys, we're going to need to start enforcing trademark
> stuff. It might be a hassle for you so we're giving you a heads up".
Yeah this really needs to get sorted out 'between' friends, legals stir
up so much stuff and make people feel quite upset. Better to have a
friendly - hey we're concerned about your site - from the Twitter team
(even if it is a standard letter) first rather than lawyers first.
>
> It would be nice to hear from the horses mouth if all the "twit*/
> twitter*" apps were to use "tweet" instead, would that sort the issue
> out. I have www.tweetlonger.com (and @tweetlonger) so it would be
> reasonably trivial to migrate over to the new domain if that would
> sort things out.
I suspect after the last huge thread some clarification will wind it's
way
down in the near future. It would seem to be wise, it's like finding out
your best friend's sweet little 8 year old carries an Uzi in her lunch
pack
when a site as community friendly as Twitter starts launching C&Ds.
>
> The before page wasn't really potentially confusing, especially since
> I designed it, resulting in it looking like a 4 year old had been let
> loose with MS Paint,
:-) I'm at that stage right now :-) Glad you got past it. Site looks
very
clean now.
> but you'd have to be pretty confused to think the
> new one and the Twitter homepage are the same people.
Agreed!
However, point taken it's confusing.
Take Twitterific's page: http://iconfactory.com/software/twitterrific
That bird looks familiar and the blue and there is no disclaimer.
I keep wanting apply everyday logic, but in the legal world it just
seems to go out of the window :-)
Now I really must do some coding :-)
Sent from my iPhone
On Aug 13, 2009, at 3:32 PM, Twitlonger <stu...@abovetheinternet.org>
wrote:
friggin IE6. Had to GIF some PNGs recently myself.
∞ Andy Badera
∞ This email is: [ ] bloggable [x] ask first [ ] private
∞ Google me: http://www.google.com/search?q=(andrew+badera)+OR+(andy+badera)
I was unfamiliar with it, I'll have to check it out, thanks.
Not when point 5 of the API TOS is the request you use one of the twitter logos.....
I somehow get the feeling the legal department haven’t read the wiki.
Regards,
Dean Collins
de...@MyTwitterButler.com
-----Original
Message-----
From: twitter-deve...@googlegroups.com
[mailto:twitter-deve...@googlegroups.com]
On Behalf Of Goblin
Sent: Friday, August 14, 2009 10:39 AM
To: Twitter Development Talk
It's actually the investors who would be likely to be concerned about
brand and IP issues. I don't blame them for avoiding brand dilution -
it's dangerous for a near commodity service to have their brand
diluted. However the non-deterministic nature of their attempts
to secure their brand are likely to make 3rd parties uneasy. Again
though this is business, and the lesson we should take away is to
not fly too close to the flame :-) That is don't bet your business on a
resource that someone else controls, stay flexible and (if possible)
diverse. I'm sure that's a reasonable lesson in business full stop.
Bottom line, it's their party and we're an invited guest. Parties need
guests, but the hosts till run the show :) Personally I'm enjoying the
party so far ;) Twitter has an amazingly vibrant third party community.
Just be nice to not have lawyers making the first move as that tends
to ruffle feathers somewhat (bad pun) ;-)
ATB
Neil
>> I recently got a letter by email from a UK law firm representing
>> Twitter claiming that my websitewww.twitlonger.comwas infringing on
>> has previously used on thewww.twitter.comwebsite. The combination of
The PR value of a few nice words :-)
I recently got a letter by email from a UK law firm representing
Twitter claiming that my website www.twitlonger.com was infringing on
has previously used on the www.twitter.com website. The combination of
IANAL, but ... in the "likelihood of confusion" test, I don't think the
standard includes us. By the virtue of the fact that we are in this
developer group already separates us from the average person. If any
Twitter developer ever mistakes a third-party app. being a part of
Twitter itself, just stick your head in the oven and breathe deep until
you go to sleep.
Think of your average person who's only joined Twitter because they
heard about it on Oprah and want to follow Ellen Degeneres. They still
haven't figured out what "retweeting" is. Now, they see a third-party
app. developers site: is it likely they might be confused? Of course!
They're a shade smarter than garden mulch and the words "ketchup" and
"catsup" confuses them. They believe that pro-wrestling on TV is
*real*. And guess what: they constitute probably upwards of 80% of the
world's population.
Lowest common denominator. Welcome to humanity!
--
Dossy Shiobara | do...@panoptic.com | http://dossy.org/
Panoptic Computer Network | http://panoptic.com/
"He realized the fastest way to change is to laugh at your own
folly -- then you can let go and quickly move on." (p. 70)