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Infringement of 9Gag's trademark [pdf]

9gagforandroid.com

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Re: Infringement of 9Gag's trademark [pdf]

#21

Post by logn »

Nein gag.

These apps actually are annoying. The name should indicate they're not official. All of these apps harvest some user data and (whether deserved or not) I trust it to the name brand more than a random developer.

Anyhow it seems like they had a reasonable exchange. I loved how after the threatening legal letter the co-founder's email has a link to his funny collection!

Edit: but I do appreciate the developer filling a need that wasn't met. I think I probably have this app installed actually. Anyhow, it's never fun to sift through multiple, similar looking apps.

Re: Infringement of 9Gag's trademark [pdf]

#22

Post by DannyBee »

All the letter is missing is a "via 9gag.com" watermark added to it (well, i guess someone would have to post it to reddit first)

Interestingly, the only actual 9gag trademark i can find is for a character mark that was registered 2 days ago.

Re: Infringement of 9Gag's trademark [pdf]

#24

Post by redDragon »

itafroma wrote: post #16
ihuman wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's not in charge of the official app. He made a 9gag app, and then 9gag made their own after it. Now 9gag wants him to stop development.

They're asking ruqqq to stop infringing on their trademark and copyright, not necessarily stop development. The trademark issue is likely resolvable by removing the "9GAG for Android" tagline and any other implied or expressed official connection to 9GAG that might appear in the app, website, or other marketing materials. What they're referring to with regards to the copyright violation is a little more complex: are…

Yes, I agree if ruqqq brands it as just-another-funny-app then perhaps there won't be any copyright violations, since 9GAG steals content from other sites, stealing content from them won't amount to any copyright violation. In my opinion unless 9GAG specifically says that the user-supplied content belongs to them, then it doesn't, but the terms here say something on those lines: http://9gag.com/tos

Re: Infringement of 9Gag's trademark [pdf]

#25

Post by joezhou »

As a dev, I feel really really sympathetic towards your situation. However, it's the reality of the business. I've written things that leverage certain APIs and ended up getting replaced by "the official version." Yes, our apps bring traffic to their site, but it's also a two way street. By leveraging APIs, we are taking advantage of their users and infrastructures. So yeah, it sucks that it ended, but at least it was fun (hopefully profitable) while it lasted. Move on bro!

Re: Infringement of 9Gag's trademark [pdf]

#26

Post by ruqqq »

itafroma wrote: post #16
ihuman wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's not in charge of the official app. He made a 9gag app, and then 9gag made their own after it. Now 9gag wants him to stop development.

They're asking ruqqq to stop infringing on their trademark and copyright, not necessarily stop development. The trademark issue is likely resolvable by removing the "9GAG for Android" tagline and any other implied or expressed official connection to 9GAG that might appear in the app, website, or other marketing materials. What they're referring to with regards to the copyright violation is a little more complex: are…

The email clearly states "using our trademark and CONTENT". That's what the email is for. Furthermore, their TOS is worded to be confusing (at least it is to me): http://9gag.com/tos

Anyhow, I'm not going to make this into im-a-bitter-dev commotion. Some here even state that it's not the users I'm worried about because if I am, then I can just direct them to the official app.

My real concern is that my app existed before 9GAG's, and although 90% of my users are using it free, there are some who appreciate the work I put into making a nice-to-use app and bought the "Pro" version. These are the people I would NOT want to disappoint. I'm still weighing solutions and brainstorming on how to make their dollar spent worth it. But for now, I've removed 9GAG references in the Play Store listings.

Re: Infringement of 9Gag's trademark [pdf]

#27

Post by itafroma »

redDragon wrote: post #24
itafroma wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're asking ruqqq to stop infringing on their trademark and copyright, not necessarily stop development. The trademark issue is likely resolvable by removing the "9GAG for Android" tagline and any other implied or expressed official connection to 9GAG that might appear in the app, website, or other marketing materials. What they're referring to with regards to the copyright violation is a little more complex: are…

Yes, I agree if ruqqq brands it as just-another-funny-app then perhaps there won't be any copyright violations, since 9GAG steals content from other sites, stealing content from them won't amount to any copyright violation. In my opinion unless 9GAG specifically says that the user-supplied content belongs to them, then it doesn't, but the terms here say something on those lines: http://9gag.com/tos

Their TOS makes it pretty clear that the user-supplied content doesn't belong to them, under section 3 "Subscriber Content":

> Subscriber shall own all Subscriber Content that Subscriber contributes to the Site, but hereby grants and agrees to grant 9GAG, Inc a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, transferable right and license (with the right to sublicense), to use, copy, cache, publish, display, distribute, modify, create derivative works and store such Subscriber Content and to allow others to do so (“Content License”) in order to provide the Services.

And under section 2 "Site Content", they claim ownership of everything except user-generated content (emphasis here is mine):

> All materials displayed or performed on the Site, including, but not limited to text, graphics, logos, tools, photographs, images, illustrations, software or source code, audio and video, animations and Themes (as defined below), including without limitation the 9GAG, Inc Template Code (as defined below) (collectively, “Content”) (other than Content posted by Subscriber (“Subscriber Content”)) are the property of 9GAG, Inc and/or third parties and are protected by Hong Kong and international copyright laws.

Even if they did try claim ownership, one can't transfer a copyright they don't hold, which is the case for most of 9GAG's user-supplied content.

Re: Infringement of 9Gag's trademark [pdf]

#28

Post by itafroma »

ruqqq wrote: post #26
itafroma wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're asking ruqqq to stop infringing on their trademark and copyright, not necessarily stop development. The trademark issue is likely resolvable by removing the "9GAG for Android" tagline and any other implied or expressed official connection to 9GAG that might appear in the app, website, or other marketing materials. What they're referring to with regards to the copyright violation is a little more complex: are…

The email clearly states "using our trademark and CONTENT". That's what the email is for. Furthermore, their TOS is worded to be confusing (at least it is to me): http://9gag.com/tos Anyhow, I'm not going to make this into im-a-bitter-dev commotion. Some here even state that it's not the users I'm worried about because if I am, then I can just direct them to the official app. My real concern is that my app existed be…

Their TOS does not claim ownership over user-supplied content; see section 2, "All materials displayed or performed on the Site[...](other than Content posted by Subscriber (“Subscriber Content”)) are the property of 9GAG, Inc[...]" and section 3, "Subscriber shall own all Subscriber Content that Subscriber contributes to the Site[...]".

The letter does claim that you are using their content, but the use of which infringes on their trademark and copyright. Your use of the user-submitted content would not infringe on their copyright: users were never asked to assign copyright to 9GAG, and in most cases, would not be able to as they were not the original copyright holders to begin with.

If there was a fundamental copyright problem (i.e., the entire basis of your app is copyright infringement due to an ownership claim on all the user-supplied content) and they wanted to shut your app down, they could've just issued a run-of-the-mill DMCA takedown notice to Google. That they didn't seems, to me, that they are fine with your app as long as you remove the infringing elements.

If you were interested in keeping Nine around without fear of 9GAG taking additional action, I'd ask them what content, exactly, infringes on their copyright and have them enumerate what you need to remove. It may be something relatively straightforward, like certain assets or logos that you may be using in your app.

Re: Infringement of 9Gag's trademark [pdf]

#29

Post by afhof »

arbus wrote: post #23

A reddit post from awhile ago explains pretty accurately how 9gag gets all their "content" http://www.reddit.com/r/4chan/comments/zacju/9gag_repost_mac...

Don't read too seriously into that, as most users of 4chan are loathe to use reddit (and strongly consider reddit to do the same thing that 9gag does).

Re: Infringement of 9Gag's trademark [pdf]

#30

Post by iagomr »

Even though you might not live in the US, I think you should change the name and visuals to avoid any possible shitstorm in your way. If there is really a market for you, maybe you should disassociate now from 9GAG and create your own product and serve users with your own concept. Find a way to deliver relevant content to your users, and maybe in 2 years you'll be bigger than 9GAG :)
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