I must not be paying enough attention, because this doesn't make a lick of sense from Twitters side. If I had a company that was willing to host images instead of me, at no cost to me, and no restrictions on me, I would be a barking mad idiot to disrupt this relationship. Unless I was about to sell...
Twitpic is shutting down
21–30 of 155 posts
Re: Twitpic is shutting down
#22Are they just playing chicken with Twitter here?
It seems odd that, because Twitter are being trademark jerks, they're going to just take their ball and go home. This feels more like attempted blackmail.
Re: Twitpic is shutting down
#23So, with three weeks notice, all tweets that have ever been posted that included a picture using Twitpic (which is a remarkable number) will no longer have their picture available? In fact, do we even have three weeks? I just did a search for "saurik twitpic" on Twitter ( https://twitter.com/search?f=realtime&q=saurik%20twitpic ) to find people who had posted pictures of me, of them for me, or of my products to show…
The Twitpic homepage[1] is also 404'ing big time, perhaps it's just a devops issue more than them pulling the plug before the sunset date?
It almost seems like they're playing a little hardball and showing everyone what things will be like if they disappeared from the web, which seems to be what Twitter is threatening them with since they're unable to secure the use of their name and yet millions of images are linked based on that (domain) name.
Still, we've seen this story before, Twitter doesn't give a fuck about developers now that they have sufficiently used them to build their platform and brand.
But, what's funny is, it was the use of "tweet" that Twitter frowned upon for 3-rd party names -- "twit" was considered fine...
Re: Twitpic is shutting down
#24I must not be paying enough attention, because this doesn't make a lick of sense from Twitters side. If I had a company that was willing to host images instead of me, at no cost to me, and no restrictions on me, I would be a barking mad idiot to disrupt this relationship. Unless I was about to sell...
I don't think it mentions anything about Twitpic as a service. It's only about the trademark.
That being said it makes a lot of sense for Twitter want to control the user experience. The cost of hosting low resolution thumbnails can't be a pressing issue for Twitter. User experience and engagement on the other hand....
I'm not saying it's worth sabotaging relationships with 3rd party developers but there's a certain mindset in which this type of thinking makes a lot of sense.
Re: Twitpic is shutting down
#25I suspect Twitter's demand is the straw that broke the camel's back. I'm sure Twitpic use has declined significantly since Twitter introduced their own image hosting. The team has moved on to other projects so there's not much incentive to fight it.
Re: Twitpic is shutting down
#26So, there is a bunch of info we dont have... But would it not make sense to just rebrand? From a preliminary search on twitter, there is a huge amount of users still using twitpic. Seems like this is a biz that could/should make millions a year with some cost reductions and run mostly on autopilot. Also, what happens to the millions of pictures previously hosted with these guys? Even if you can backup/export all your…
That does seem pretty crazy that they wouldn't just buy another domain and keep things running. My guess is it actually has nothing to do with Twitter or Trademarks. They likely ran out of capital and are giving up.
Re: Twitpic is shutting down
#27So, there is a bunch of info we dont have... But would it not make sense to just rebrand? From a preliminary search on twitter, there is a huge amount of users still using twitpic. Seems like this is a biz that could/should make millions a year with some cost reductions and run mostly on autopilot. Also, what happens to the millions of pictures previously hosted with these guys? Even if you can backup/export all your…
My thoughts exactly. Why is the trademark so important to them? And as I read it, Twitter never demanded that they stop using the name, just that they do not apply for the registered trademark. This decision seems rash.
>>> My thoughts exactly. Why is the trademark so important to them?
Because it would protect them from Twitter going after them for infringement on Twitter's trademarks. I'm sure Twitter knew they had no argument for the "Likelihood of Confusion" Test and TwitPic would've been granted its trademark in due time.
From a legal perspective, it looks like Twitter felt if they got trademark protection, they wouldn't have any leverage to sue them to get them to stop treading on their business. Instead of mounting a legal defense in the courts, they simply used what leverage they did have and threatened to cut them off from their API - which is everything for TwitPic.
For you non-legalese folks:
http://marklaw.com/trademark-glossary/confuse.htm
"The terms, "confusingly similar" or "likelihood of confusion" both refer to the standard required to prove infringement of a trademark. Specifically, if the relevant consuming public will likely be confused or mistaken about the source of a product or service sold using the mark in question, then likelihood of confusion exists, and the mark has been infringed.
The likelihood of confusion test is also one of several examinations conducted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in determining whether to approve an applicant’s trademark application. It is worth noting here that even if there is no likelihood of confusion, i.e. no trademark infringement, you may still be liable for using another company's trademark if you are blurring or tarnishing their mark under the state and/or federal dilution laws."
Re: Twitpic is shutting down
#28Two lessons:
1. Don't base your entire business on another business' product. Especially one that has had such a hostile relationship with third parties. When the other business decides to discontinue your access to its service, or otherwise change things, or basically copy what you do under their own brand, you're screwed.
2. Don't create a similar name that will give you trouble in trademark disputes. (Seriously? TwitPic? I work in technology, and even I thought they were owned by Twitter, though admittedly, I don't use Twitter much and don't use TwitPic at all).
Re: Twitpic is shutting down
#29Two lessons: 1. Don't base your entire business on another business' product. Especially one that has had such a hostile relationship with third parties. When the other business decides to discontinue your access to its service, or otherwise change things, or basically copy what you do under their own brand, you're screwed. 2. Don't create a similar name that will give you trouble in trademark disputes. (Seriously? T…
When they launched I remember thinking they were naming themselves that way for 2 reasons: 1. cause user confusion like you suggested, 2. try to flip to twitter itself.
Re: Twitpic is shutting down
#30Two lessons: 1. Don't base your entire business on another business' product. Especially one that has had such a hostile relationship with third parties. When the other business decides to discontinue your access to its service, or otherwise change things, or basically copy what you do under their own brand, you're screwed. 2. Don't create a similar name that will give you trouble in trademark disputes. (Seriously? T…
A business product that encourages data isolation, control and non-transparency is not a product anyone should ever want to use.