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Unable to deal with Chrome Extension Team, Kozmos is shutting down

kodfabrik.com

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Re: Unable to deal with Chrome Extension Team, Kozmos is shutting down

#271

Post by abduhl »

chmod775 wrote: post #253
neya wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the links you've shared, I thought the author (Azer) was on the right to behave the way he did. I don't see it as a reason to discount his current experience because of that either.

They would have no case if they actually tried to go after him to "defend" their trademark. His mail was just empty threats. You can't just trademark 3 letters in a way so that nobody else can use them. In fact there's hundreds of trademarks that are the letters "kik" in various logos[1]. What they trademarked is a bunch of specific logos containing those letters. Doesn't prevent other people from also using those 3…

What is the cost to defend against a lawsuit where the person suing you has “no case,” especially in the USA where the American rule for lawyer fees governs?

Re: Unable to deal with Chrome Extension Team, Kozmos is shutting down

#272

Post by acituan »

bartread wrote: post #209

Maybe they're still angry with him about leftpad. Yes, it really is the same guy: https://kodfabrik.com/journal/i-ve-just-liberated-my-modules . And, joking aside it would be wise to bear in mind that we're reading only one side of the story here. As with leftpad, there's another side to this. With leftpad he told Kik, "fuck you" ( https://medium.com/@mproberts/a-discussion-about-the-breakin... ), and then wrought gl…

> I only have two data points, so the behaviour here is a coincidence rather than a pattern, but I will guarantee you whatever you think of Google there is more to this than meets the eye.

You seem to want us to question the narrative based on the likability of the developer, but is it really relevant? Can you really imagine a data point that we don't know that will change the narrative of "solo developer getting steamrolled by corporate machinery"? Because that is what is happening in both cases. I want to be clear, this is not even about the solo developer actually being in the right, it is about the process or lack thereof that takes place to reach the conclusion. You might not like this particular guy, but I guarantee you a more likable guy would be/will be/is being equally strong-armed in these lopsided processes. Transparency, accountability and fairness would make all of us happy and not left guessing who might be right based on who writes the most likable emails or has the most popular brand.

Re: Unable to deal with Chrome Extension Team, Kozmos is shutting down

#273

Post by syshum »

o10449366 wrote: post #254
xg15 wrote: post #141

Old and busted: Google unexpectedly cancelling their products. New hotness: Google unexpectedly cancelling other peoples' products.

Google must be an awesome place to work as an engineer because apparently you just generally don't have to worry about deprecating your products/services or interacting with your customers. Amazon is notorious for their oncall and stubbornness when it comes to sunsetting services. Everyone I know that works there hates the burden that comes with being "customer obsessed." I never hear any complaints like that from th…

hmmm I wonder why GCP is having such a hard time getting enterprise customers...

I wonder what both AWS and Azure have that google does not???

Re: Unable to deal with Chrome Extension Team, Kozmos is shutting down

#274

Post by Kaze404 »

brownbat wrote: post #183
Kaze404 wrote: post #8

I don't understand how we've normalized Googles behavior to the point where this doesn't even shock me anymore. When I used Google Play Music a couple years ago there was a feature that was broken for YEARS according to the bug reports I could find, and in a classic Google move they shut the service down before ever fixing it. That might sound like a non sequitur but it's ridiculous to me how little Google cares abou…

> When I used Google Play Music a couple years ago there was a feature that was broken for YEARS Not sure if this is yours, but mine was that it would often swap out my tracks for radio edits, even though I uploaded the original. I'm an adult, I bought this music, I don't need the kids' version. There's a built in feature you can use, "fix incorrect match," that would fix this only about half the time. Oh right, it a…

I had that issue as well, but in this comment I was talking about editing a track's album art. It would upload the picture but not do anything with it. Very weird to have such a basic function be broken like that for so long.

As for YouTube Music, it supports background play only if you subscribe, like regular YouTube.

Re: Unable to deal with Chrome Extension Team, Kozmos is shutting down

#276

Post by otterley »

roadbeats wrote: post #242
bartread wrote: post #209

Maybe they're still angry with him about leftpad. Yes, it really is the same guy: https://kodfabrik.com/journal/i-ve-just-liberated-my-modules . And, joking aside it would be wise to bear in mind that we're reading only one side of the story here. As with leftpad, there's another side to this. With leftpad he told Kik, "fuck you" ( https://medium.com/@mproberts/a-discussion-about-the-breakin... ), and then wrought gl…

> With leftpad he told Kik, "fuck you" In response to a threat starting with "We don’t mean to be a dick about it" and ending with "our trademark lawyers are going to be banging on your door and taking down your accounts and stuff like that", I did say "fuck you" to Kik. If that makes me the character in your mind, enjoy your imagination.

About twenty years ago, I learned a lesson the hard way I received a much more strongly worded cease-and-desist letter. I responded much the same way as you (though without the salty language), and a few weeks later, I got slapped with a multi-million dollar lawsuit for copyright infringement.

You're lucky you were treated as nicely as you were. It could have been a whole lot worse.

Lessons learned:

1. Hire an attorney when you get a takedown notice if you think you are likely to decline, and seek counsel before responding.

2. Telling people "fuck you" doesn't get you anywhere, and it doesn't matter how impolite or wrong you think the other person is.

Re: Unable to deal with Chrome Extension Team, Kozmos is shutting down

#277

Post by droitbutch »

Scrolling through the comments, many seem to think this was unintentional, mistake, or overzealous AI. However, the author said this has been ongoing for 2years:

> "Google's Chrome Extension team has been giving me a complete nightmare since last two years."

What if the extension violated some policy that he either overlooked or is not publicly stated?

Re: Unable to deal with Chrome Extension Team, Kozmos is shutting down

#278

Post by otterley »

stevenjohns wrote: post #264
roadbeats wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> With leftpad he told Kik, "fuck you" In response to a threat starting with "We don’t mean to be a dick about it" and ending with "our trademark lawyers are going to be banging on your door and taking down your accounts and stuff like that", I did say "fuck you" to Kik. If that makes me the character in your mind, enjoy your imagination.

It seems that lots of people are missing that part. The Kik guys were doing their corporate double-speak b/s about ‘let’s find a solution’ when the only solution is handing over the name. All while threatening with door-banging lawyers. And he did offer them a solution: $30,000 dollars, to which they promptly - albeit indirectly - replied with fuck you .

Because they didn't have to pay him $30k. They had a registered trademark and a right to use the name. And in the end, they didn’t have to spend nearly that amount. All they had to do was send a few emails to the npm maintainers.

I’d say they made a logical decision.

Re: Unable to deal with Chrome Extension Team, Kozmos is shutting down

#279

Post by monadic2 »

microcolonel wrote: post #48
monadic2 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really think this is unreasonable. Even at google there are different subcultures, including many with an anti-corporate streak. Furthermore I’m not going to blame an employee for not sticking out their neck for client businesses who also don’t give a shit about them. This isn’t a problem of individual providence. Google needs a damn union just to get some reason in the building.

> Google needs a damn union just to get some reason in the building. The problem is not mainly with how Google treats their employees (though there's definitely something wrong there), but with how they treat their customers.

I was referring to the use of a union to give employees say about the products they make. They provide collective leverage far more broadly than in the negotiation of work conditions and compensation and can negotiate directly with the board, who would normally go to great lengths to avoid speaking to their own employees (in my experience).

Hell, I’ve met more investors footing my salary than board members per se, and they definitely have zero interest in employee negotiations—that’s what management is for.

Re: Unable to deal with Chrome Extension Team, Kozmos is shutting down

#280

Post by sillysaurusx »

roadbeats wrote: post #242
bartread wrote: post #209

Maybe they're still angry with him about leftpad. Yes, it really is the same guy: https://kodfabrik.com/journal/i-ve-just-liberated-my-modules . And, joking aside it would be wise to bear in mind that we're reading only one side of the story here. As with leftpad, there's another side to this. With leftpad he told Kik, "fuck you" ( https://medium.com/@mproberts/a-discussion-about-the-breakin... ), and then wrought gl…

> With leftpad he told Kik, "fuck you" In response to a threat starting with "We don’t mean to be a dick about it" and ending with "our trademark lawyers are going to be banging on your door and taking down your accounts and stuff like that", I did say "fuck you" to Kik. If that makes me the character in your mind, enjoy your imagination.

I just wanted to say, thanks for standing up for what you believe in. It took courage to do what you did.
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