Iiiinteresting. Twitter seems to, despite previous assurances from co-founder Biz Stone that it wouldn’t, be going after app developers using “Tweet” as part of their app names.
Now, if Twitter actually had a trademark on the term “tweet” it would be one thing, but to be sending takedown notices for something you don’t own isn’t just a matter of bad faith its actually illegal. It’s an act of fraud.
Imagine getting the local sheriff to evict a family from a house you’ve put a bid on, but don’t yet own. We’d never stand for that, yet Twitter just got TweetKnot removed from FaceBook with a fraudulent infringement notice for a trademark it does not own.
Furthermore, the USPTO has so far refused to grant Twitter’s application for a service mark for “tweet” and in fact if the rules were applied fairly, Twitter should not be granted a mark for “tweet” since its was the twitter users themselves that coined the term, not Twitter the company, it is in fact like Kleenex or Coke now a term in common use and by definition not trademark-able…
So, what should happen to companies that play these tactics? Perhpas we need an IP Penalty Box for such miscreants – maybe suspension of ability to obtain trademarks or patents for 3 years? Same thing for media companies that falsely file DMCA takedown notices, or app developers (as in the iTunes AppStore) who send fraudulent copyright infringement notices purely to harm their competitors by having their apps removed from sale.
What about lawyers who knowingly participate in such takedown/infringement notices? Isn’t it their jobs as officers of the court to advise their clients they they cannot just make stuff up and then attempt to use the law as a bludgeon? Maybe a 3 year suspension of the law licenses of offending lawyers might be a good start here too.
Something’s gotta’ change – we can’t keep having this stuff happen, its making developers skittish about releasing apps and by extension killing innovation …and in the tech industry we need more innovation, not less. Especially if we’re going to get our economy moving again.
Source: http://www.zeitgeist.com/
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