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Show HN: I made a free animator. Think Adobe Illustrator but for animation

trangram.com

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Re: Show HN: I made a free animator. Think Adobe Illustrator but for animation

#101

Post by ensignavenger »

noduerme wrote: post #76
mittermayr wrote: post #56

One quick comment: I was threatened and on the brink of being sued by one of Facebook's bigger law firms, because my domain was called "***gram.com" — I went through a couple of calls with them, and they confirmed that the only issue was the use of the word "gram". I tried to stick to my guns, knowing they had nothing (legally) on me, but eventually had to give in once they told me to research the ongoing cases they…

Not that I don't believe what you're saying, but how is this a thing they could possibly expect to hold up as a trademark infringement? They literally own a single recently invented neologism of which neither the prefix nor the root is original. It seems to me that Instacart or Insta360 would be much more open to claims... honestly if it were me, I wouldn't hire a lawyer, just let them know to send me a letter what c…

This exactly... I would represent myself, it would be fun.... and let Meta spend hundreds of thousands on lawyers. If I lost I would drag it out as long as possible and then if by some strange twist of fate I lost, I would declare bankruptcy and write a book about the whole thing.

Re: Show HN: I made a free animator. Think Adobe Illustrator but for animation

#103

Post by andsoitis »

notsahil wrote: post #61
mittermayr wrote: post #56

One quick comment: I was threatened and on the brink of being sued by one of Facebook's bigger law firms, because my domain was called "***gram.com" — I went through a couple of calls with them, and they confirmed that the only issue was the use of the word "gram". I tried to stick to my guns, knowing they had nothing (legally) on me, but eventually had to give in once they told me to research the ongoing cases they…

Any reference to it? I couldn't find anything about Facebook taking action on a domain ending with gram. Was your domain similar to instagram? Because telegram is still out there.

and other things like storygram, thefoodygram, picturegram, etc.

Re: Show HN: I made a free animator. Think Adobe Illustrator but for animation

#104

Post by nimbleal »

ensignavenger wrote: post #101
noduerme wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not that I don't believe what you're saying, but how is this a thing they could possibly expect to hold up as a trademark infringement? They literally own a single recently invented neologism of which neither the prefix nor the root is original. It seems to me that Instacart or Insta360 would be much more open to claims... honestly if it were me, I wouldn't hire a lawyer, just let them know to send me a letter what c…

This exactly... I would represent myself, it would be fun.... and let Meta spend hundreds of thousands on lawyers. If I lost I would drag it out as long as possible and then if by some strange twist of fate I lost, I would declare bankruptcy and write a book about the whole thing.

Or even shoot a documentary as you go. Netflix could end up paying for your time.

Re: Show HN: I made a free animator. Think Adobe Illustrator but for animation

#105

Post by brycedriesenga »

Closi wrote: post #33
junto wrote: post #13

Back in the day I used to do quite a lot of Macromedia Flash work. It’s uncannily similar but a modern take. I’ve often wondered why no one has come up with a new product in this space. I think the long term demise of Flash has put off anyone even trying. There are so many great uses for animations on the web, even if we don’t need full blown user interfaces of them and intro screens like we did back in 2002. Great j…

Totally agree! The major feature missing compared to Flash would be library and component support - i.e. the ability to create reusable animated graphics that you can drag onto the canvas (with infinite nesting). i.e. you can animate a bird with flapping wings, then drag 3 copies onto your sky.

Rive can do that!

Re: Show HN: I made a free animator. Think Adobe Illustrator but for animation

#106

Post by frob »

ensignavenger wrote: post #101
noduerme wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not that I don't believe what you're saying, but how is this a thing they could possibly expect to hold up as a trademark infringement? They literally own a single recently invented neologism of which neither the prefix nor the root is original. It seems to me that Instacart or Insta360 would be much more open to claims... honestly if it were me, I wouldn't hire a lawyer, just let them know to send me a letter what c…

This exactly... I would represent myself, it would be fun.... and let Meta spend hundreds of thousands on lawyers. If I lost I would drag it out as long as possible and then if by some strange twist of fate I lost, I would declare bankruptcy and write a book about the whole thing.

I know your comment is just internet puffery, but please know that the old adage is true: "A man who represents himself has a fool for a client."

There is a reason that judges will ask defendents multiple times if they're really, really, truely sure they want to represent themselves before allowing it.

As much as you wish it, a dictionary or common sense does little to nothing in a court of law. Mostly, you'll just annoy the judge who cares not about your dictionary, but the subtle details of copyright law, trademarks, uS code, registration timelines, dates of priority, common use, historical use, due diligence, and 50 other minute technical details I have never even thought about.

Re: Show HN: I made a free animator. Think Adobe Illustrator but for animation

#107

Post by [deleted] »

diggan wrote: post #99
noduerme wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not that I don't believe what you're saying, but how is this a thing they could possibly expect to hold up as a trademark infringement? They literally own a single recently invented neologism of which neither the prefix nor the root is original. It seems to me that Instacart or Insta360 would be much more open to claims... honestly if it were me, I wouldn't hire a lawyer, just let them know to send me a letter what c…

> Not that I don't believe what you're saying, but how is this a thing they could possibly expect to hold up as a trademark infringement? The worst part is that it doesn't even matter if they have a case or not. The mere threat of "Look at how much it'll cost you even if you're right" can be enough for people to pull back. Recent relevant case is the Sony vs Bleem!, where Bleem! "won" but because of costs, Bleem! had…

[deleted]

Re: Show HN: I made a free animator. Think Adobe Illustrator but for animation

#108

Post by panzagl »

Chazprime wrote: post #62
notsahil wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any reference to it? I couldn't find anything about Facebook taking action on a domain ending with gram. Was your domain similar to instagram? Because telegram is still out there.

This is one of them that I remember from 2016: https://www.theguardian.com/media-network/2016/dec/02/battle... I don’t see how even Facebook could have an issue with “telegram” being used commercially, but I wouldn’t be totally surprised if they did.

Deep in Meta HQ: "How dare the metric system infringe on our IP"

Re: Show HN: I made a free animator. Think Adobe Illustrator but for animation

#109

Post by ibejoeb »

trangram wrote: post #14
shubhamjain wrote: post #4

This is awesome. Great job! I love the simplicity of the whole thing. I was able to figure out the tool in a minute. Compare that to professional software, which can have a scary complexity. I think it'd be a great educational tool. Kids would love to experiment with it.

Your words mean a lot to me. In designing and implementing Trangram, ease-of-use ranks high on my list of priorities, alongside functionality and safety. Just as you mentioned, one of my primary motivations was to facilitate the creation of educational materials, which I was particularly inspired by experiences while watching The Power Of A Mathematical Picture https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vnMT70HOxc&list=PLOxODW…

Same experience. Very easy to use and plenty of functionality.

What is safety?

Re: Show HN: I made a free animator. Think Adobe Illustrator but for animation

#110

Post by ensignavenger »

frob wrote: post #106
ensignavenger wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This exactly... I would represent myself, it would be fun.... and let Meta spend hundreds of thousands on lawyers. If I lost I would drag it out as long as possible and then if by some strange twist of fate I lost, I would declare bankruptcy and write a book about the whole thing.

I know your comment is just internet puffery, but please know that the old adage is true: "A man who represents himself has a fool for a client." There is a reason that judges will ask defendents multiple times if they're really, really, truely sure they want to represent themselves before allowing it. As much as you wish it, a dictionary or common sense does little to nothing in a court of law. Mostly, you'll just a…

I have represented myself in court before... and won. I wouldn't recomend it for everyone, but in a relatively low stakes case, it is better in my opinion, for me, to represent myself than to not have my side heard at all because I can't afford a lawyer. Some folks don't enjoy legal stuff like I do, and it would not be worth yheir time.

I should also clarify that the OP probably made the right choice for them to settle, as they probably had more assets to lose than I do.

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