Comments on: Twitter: Using Tweet is OK, Twitter Might Not Be

By: dean collins

dean collins — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:43:54 +0000

lol – yep, i was wondering if someone in Twitter Inc was taking this a little too personal.

At the moment i haven’t heard any factual confirmation of Twitter inc suing any other application for using their name. (i’ve counted about 20-30 of them)

I also haven’t heard Twitter trying to stop the sale of any application that uses their API either.

Their claims that anyone using the API to autofollow is breaking the terms of service is ludicrous, dont want that function to be available….dont offer it on the API – simple really.

It became apparent in a conference call that their lawyer didn’t realise that the http://www.MyTwitterButler.com application is still restricted by the limited imposed by Twitter API (eg can only send 250 direct messages per day etc).

I think they really need to appreciate that it was third party developers that amde them as big as they are today.

Cheers,
Dean

By: Sam J

Sam J — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:19:16 +0000

@Dean: "So sue me" eh? Looks like they did (or at least threatened to)! Never mind Tiwtter Trademark in Trouble Too Sam

By: Twitter Claims Ownership of Retweet, A New Debacle In The Making? | The Blog Herald

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 10:09:44 +0000

[...] by Franky Branckaute Together with the announcement of the Retweet implementation on Twitter it seems that Twitter has started to send out Cease & Desist orders to third party developers in a try to protect its trademarks. In a weird spin of things, Mesiahlabs, developer of Retweet.com which we discussed previously, has become the victim of this because Twitter has received approval for the term tweet. Mesiab Labs’ @retweet account has effectively been suspended by Twitter. Previously the company had announced that they had no plans to ‘go after’ companies using the term ‘Tweet’. [...]

By: Tom Geldner

Tom Geldner — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:12:19 +0000

Wasn’t “tweet” a user-created description? If so, that would make it indefensible as a trademark, assuming Twitter got the registration through.

It’s a mistake to assume that companies can’t trademark common or in-use words. Nike and Apple are good examples of companies with in-use word names and exceptionally solid trademarks. Likewise “macintosh” for products.

By: dean collins

dean collins — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:21:41 +0000

I use the word twitter in my product http://www.MyTwitterButler.com

So sue me.

Cheers,
Dean

By: Thord Daniel Hedengren

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:00:55 +0000

You know, that would be hilarious indeed!

By: Andy Merrett

Andy Merrett — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:12:08 +0000

I get companies needing to trademark stuff but if you’re going to call yourself something that’s a word in any language, and the actions your users do is also a word (twitter and tweet are both English words) then you’re asking for trouble.

I guess it’s a matter of context. Good job Twitter isn’t planning on suing those who use their “trademark” – I’d love to see them file lawsuits against every bird in the world! :)

By: StevieB’s Shared Items – July 2, 2009 at Lost in Cyberspace

StevieB’s Shared Items – July 2, 2009 at Lost in Cyberspace — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:00:58 +0000

[...] Twitter: Using Tweet is OK, Twitter Might Not BeJuly 1, 2009 [...]

By: Twitter: Using Tweet is OK, Twitter Might Not Be | Cookee Ninja - Business, Technology, Internet, World

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:00:06 +0000

[...] Original post: Twitter: Using Tweet is OK, Twitter Might Not Be [...]