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TWiT is suing Twitter, alleging breach of contract and copyright infringement

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Re: TWiT is suing Twitter, alleging breach of contract and copyright infringement

#71

Post by Zigurd »

the_unknown wrote: post #14

On a related note - it turns out that he's been running the New Screen Savers show for a while now - didn't even know about it. Happy memories watching the original show - I'll have to give this a try. Oh, and some of the old team pop in Kate Botello, Patrick Norton, etc. So there's one benefit to suing Twitter - it gets your name in the media again and all of us old timers can reminisce and catch up on the new serie…

It also highlights what a one-man-band is TWiT: It depends heavily on Leo Laporte being a first tier broadcast media professional. Because Leo can't or won't hire a second person of his skill level as a radio voice, if there is anyone like him available at any price, TWiT doesn't scale.

Moreover, most people are increasingly used to internet-first voices in the media they consume. You don't need to be able to hold forth for hours without an "uh" or a misplaced breath to have a hugely popular and highly remunerative show. And, on top of that, while podcasts are thriving, video is thriving even more. "Video natives" are the best paid people you've never heard of. TWiT is in danger of becoming a relic.

Re: TWiT is suing Twitter, alleging breach of contract and copyright infringement

#72

Post by syshum »

rpenm wrote: post #59
mankash666 wrote: post #31

How is this any different from patent trolling? Nobody confuses TWiT for Twitter, or vice versa. I don't think TWiT should be in a position to make money off Twitter's entry into video, just like some random patent troll shouldn't be able to monetize ludicrous patents

A trademark is more precarious than a patent. If you don't defend the trademark in a timely manner, the infringer can make a laches defense. Unchecked infringement - however minor - can also cumulatively damage the distinctiveness of the trademark, making it more difficult to defend against future infringement.

The "Trademarks must be defended" and the "yell fire" concepts are the 2 most over stated and misunderstood legal topics on the planet.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/11/trademark-law-does-not...

>>Quite simply, the view that a trademark holder must trawl the internet and respond to every unauthorized use (or even every infringing use) is a myth. It’s great for lawyers, but irritating and expensive for everyone else. And when done clumsily or maliciously, it chills free expression.

Re: TWiT is suing Twitter, alleging breach of contract and copyright infringement

#73

Post by Notre1 »

dec0dedab0de wrote: post #7

does anyone remember the name of the alternate microblogging platform leo laporte was using when this first came up ~ 10 years ago? I remember one episode he just gave in and used twitter.

I think he tried a few, but the one that I remember him saying that he liked the most was Plurk.

This page shows the UI, at the time, pretty well: https://readwrite.com/2008/06/04/plurk_unique_or_just_anothe...

Re: TWiT is suing Twitter, alleging breach of contract and copyright infringement

#74

Post by torgoguys »

Ha. Leo has been talking about this for a long time, bringing it up here and there and various shows. He tends to not get that sympathetic of an ear from his own co-hosts, nor do I have much sympathy. The amount of confusions that arises is probably minimal and is an issue that exists primarily in his own head.

I also noticed that in the linked complaint, TWiT still insists on calling their productions "netcasts" instead of podcasts. The market isn't similarly confused over requiring an iPod to listen to podcasts, Leo...

Re: TWiT is suing Twitter, alleging breach of contract and copyright infringement

#75

Post by tapoxi »

Zigurd wrote: post #71
the_unknown wrote: post #14

On a related note - it turns out that he's been running the New Screen Savers show for a while now - didn't even know about it. Happy memories watching the original show - I'll have to give this a try. Oh, and some of the old team pop in Kate Botello, Patrick Norton, etc. So there's one benefit to suing Twitter - it gets your name in the media again and all of us old timers can reminisce and catch up on the new serie…

It also highlights what a one-man-band is TWiT: It depends heavily on Leo Laporte being a first tier broadcast media professional. Because Leo can't or won't hire a second person of his skill level as a radio voice, if there is anyone like him available at any price, TWiT doesn't scale. Moreover, most people are increasingly used to internet-first voices in the media they consume. You don't need to be able to hold fo…

He hired Tom Merritt to do a daily tech news podcast a while ago and he did a fantastic job, but Laporte didn't renew his contract after Merritt moved because he wanted someone in-studio.

I've stopped listening to TWiT network shows since. Not out of resentment, but because I just got tired of Leo.

Re: TWiT is suing Twitter, alleging breach of contract and copyright infringement

#76

Post by deerpig »

itsoggy wrote: post #11
dec0dedab0de wrote: post #7

does anyone remember the name of the alternate microblogging platform leo laporte was using when this first came up ~ 10 years ago? I remember one episode he just gave in and used twitter.

https://identi.ca/

He really pushed identi.ca, there was a nice community there back in the day. It became a bit of a refuge from the noise on twitter. I had my identi.ca account in my sig file up until a couple of years ago. But I have largely lost interest in any of the social media platforms though I use twitter from time to time.

Re: TWiT is suing Twitter, alleging breach of contract and copyright infringement

#77

Post by ajford »

xdanger wrote: post #44
HenryBemis wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been listening to some of his podcasts but narrowed it down to only SN. On his other podcasts I get news that I have already picked up here (days earlier). I remember that the drop that did it for me was some guy on his M$ podcast 'commanding us' to be good slaves and shut up about the M$ excessive and intrusive telemetry because if M$ wants something we should just shut up and comply. Leo also tends to invite p…

I like Security Now. And when Fr. Robert Ballecer is covering for Leo I simply love it. Leo is a little clueless on the hard issues, and Fr. Robert can milk more info out of Steve and go to more in depth discussions. Too bad he's leaving the network...

I agree! I really like the back and forth between Fr. Robert and Gibson, it feels a bit more dynamic than Gibson and Leo. Leo never seems to have read as much into the topic before the podcast (and perhaps so since he is in so many netcasts on the network).

According to one of the things Fr. Robert said on air, they're making a studio in the Vatican. Perhaps we'll still see some tech talk coming from him once it's done.

Re: TWiT is suing Twitter, alleging breach of contract and copyright infringement

#78

Post by frou_dh »

xdanger wrote: post #44
HenryBemis wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been listening to some of his podcasts but narrowed it down to only SN. On his other podcasts I get news that I have already picked up here (days earlier). I remember that the drop that did it for me was some guy on his M$ podcast 'commanding us' to be good slaves and shut up about the M$ excessive and intrusive telemetry because if M$ wants something we should just shut up and comply. Leo also tends to invite p…

I like Security Now. And when Fr. Robert Ballecer is covering for Leo I simply love it. Leo is a little clueless on the hard issues, and Fr. Robert can milk more info out of Steve and go to more in depth discussions. Too bad he's leaving the network...

Exactly right. I stopped listening to SN, because Laporte being on auto-pilot for 90% of each episode does not make for an interesting conversation.

Re: TWiT is suing Twitter, alleging breach of contract and copyright infringement

#79

Post by 7952 »

Zigurd wrote: post #71
the_unknown wrote: post #14

On a related note - it turns out that he's been running the New Screen Savers show for a while now - didn't even know about it. Happy memories watching the original show - I'll have to give this a try. Oh, and some of the old team pop in Kate Botello, Patrick Norton, etc. So there's one benefit to suing Twitter - it gets your name in the media again and all of us old timers can reminisce and catch up on the new serie…

It also highlights what a one-man-band is TWiT: It depends heavily on Leo Laporte being a first tier broadcast media professional. Because Leo can't or won't hire a second person of his skill level as a radio voice, if there is anyone like him available at any price, TWiT doesn't scale. Moreover, most people are increasingly used to internet-first voices in the media they consume. You don't need to be able to hold fo…

I used to listen to TWiT within the first few year. It just sounded like a few people chatting about something they were interested in, and that was really compelling compared to the dullness of television. But it has become much more like an old fashioned TV station which I just don't like. And the network is not really needed when people can promote themselves on Youtube and other social media.
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