We were just forwarded an e-mail conversation between a Twitter API team member and a third-party developer because the latter was using a UI for its web-based service that was admittedly very similar to Twitter’s web application.
The startup of course has the right to protect its assets and do its utmost to avoid confusion with users who might think they’re using a Twitter product rather than that of a developer making use of its API.
But something else caught our attention in the thread:
Hi,
Twitter, Inc is uncomfortable with the use of the word Tweet (our trademark) and the similarity in your UI and our own. How can we go about having you change your UI to better differentiate your offering from our own?
Thanks,
First of all, I had no idea that the word ‘tweet’ was trademarked by Twitter, and after browsing its Terms of Service and API documentation I couldn’t find any reference on their website about this either. (update: a commenter links to the US trademark application, which was filed April 16, 2009 and another one claims a trademark application has been filed in Europe in June as well)
Second, I’m assuming that the note about the company being ‘uncomfortable’ with the use of the term was in reference to the combination of that with the closely resembling UI of the web application. If I’m wrong and this signals that Twitter wants to move forward with actively barring third-party apps from using the word ‘tweet’ in their names in the same way that it refrains them from using the word ‘twitter’, then this could have consequences for a plethora of developers.
Should TweetDeck, TweetMeme, Tweetie, BackTweets, Tweetboard etc. start worrying?
We’ve asked Twitter management for clarification.
Update: Twitter co-founder Biz Stone’s response (emphasis ours):
“The ecosystem growing around Twitter is something we very much believe in nourishing and supporting. As part of this support, we encourage developers of new applications and services built using Twitter APIs to invent original branding for their projects rather than use our marks, logos, or look and feel. This approach leaves room for applications to evolve as they grow and it avoids potential confusion down the line.
As we build our platform team, we will be adding more guidelines and best practices to help developers get the most out of our growing set of open APIs. We have healthy relationships with existing developers who sometimes include Twitter logos, marks, or look and feel in their applications and services. We’ll continue to work together in a fair and flexible way to ensure success for Twitter, developers, and everyone who uses these services.”
It’s a rather vague statement that doesn’t really make it clear whether the use of the word ‘tweet’ is now frowned upon or not. We’ll see when the API team puts forward clear guidelines on this in the future.
Update 2: a better statement about this in this Twitter blog post, which basically says developer can tweet their hearts out.
getting power trippy much? meh
Just Saw this article: http://www.fwd2tweet.com/18/
So http://tweetKnot.com actually received this mail from twitter
It that’s true, Twitter has a point. http://tweetKnot.com looks a awful lot like Twitter, contrarily from other services like Tweetie and so on.
Why did TC not report the source?
Yes I’m surprised – TweetKnot made an exact carbon copy of Twitter… which I think is unfair.
Twitter definitely has a point and I think TweetKnot should change their look n feel. Anyone can get confused until n unless he/she check the URL or the logo!
So now when it comes down to real money, and the potential investors are asking questions about who owns the IP, the boys at Twitter get out the guillotines. Trademark filed April 2009. Ha.
Copyright / trademark law is pretty clear, protect it or lose it. Everytime someone says they are going to try another aproach it just means they don’t have a lawyer looking at the use of their trademarks yet.
Actually I think this is a refreshing approach….most companies would have their lawyers send a cease and desist letter for anything that came even close to their territory.
Twitter on the other hand just noted being uncomfortable and asked about working together to fix it.
Perhaps the end result they seek is the same, but at least it’s a better approach.
That was my first thought too: “gee, this mail isn’t a threat, it’s a call to look for a solution”. Very refreshing.
hey everyone,
I am selling URtwitter.com for a reasonable price if anyone interested
sorry for spamming…
If you use the word Tweet in a client to Twitter, I don’t see the problem. If you try to make a clone app to Twitter and call it Tweet, then of course it is a problem. I would get annoyed too!
I was thinking the same thing. Apps like TweetMeme and TweetDeck are enablers, not necessarily competitors.
i THINK YOUR TOTALLY RITE
I think the cat is out of the bag when it comes to using twitter and tweet in app and sites name.
maybe this app was a clone using tweet as the name.
however Twitter need to clarify.
This was precisely the reason why we didn’t use the word “tweet”, in our photoshare application- http://twitsnaps.com We assumed that it was trademarked by Twitter.
Right. Because you’re so much more in the clear using the first half of their name
Frankly, asking that apps not use a trademarked term in their name is completely reasonable, had Twitter done so from the outset. For comparison, Facebook does not allow developers to use “face” in their app names (with limited exceptions).
I imagine that Twitter knows this is totally unenforceable and is just seeing what happens.
The fast half – Twit – means either foolish or a pregnant goldfish, take your pick
http://en.wikip...a.org/wiki/Twit
Perhaps TwitSnaps should change the prominent bird on their homepage to a distended goldfish
Twit is a trademark of Twit LLC (twit.tv), so you’re not any better off. http://wiki.twit.tv/wiki/FAQ
tweet
/twit/
–noun
1. a weak chirping sound, as of a young or small bird.
–verb
2. to make such a sound.
twit
1 /twɪt/ Pronunciation [twit] ,verb, twit⋅ted, twit⋅ting, noun
–verb (used with object)
1. to taunt, tease, ridicule, etc., with reference to anything embarrassing; gibe at.
2. to reproach or upbraid.
twit
3 /twɪt/
–noun Informal.
an insignificant or bothersome person
ok. how does one trademark a proper English word? a twit can be a bird right?
heck. even twitter is a proper word. i do see how they can trademark that but twit or tweet?
not a lawyer but i can see the combination of a word & a similar application but not the word itself.
any lawyers in the room?
You certainly can trademark English words… Apple, anyone?
http://wiki.ans..._as_a_trademark
i do agree that a word can be trademarked for a use, but an entire vocabulary? seems strange to me.
with that example, there are plenty of businesses that use “Apple” in their brand/name. so how do you know what ok & what oversteps a brand?
It isn’t trademarking a word so that whenever anyone uses it they will get sued. It is trademarking a word in a specific area. If twitsnaps were candy or something then it wouldn’t be an issue. In this case it is online and when a website has “twit” rather than “twitter” in the title it creates confusion over whether or not the website is associated with twit or twitter.
Too bad twit is trademarked by twit.tv
I forsee a cease and decist letter in your future.
This reminds me of the WordPress trademark fiasco of a few years back.
WordPress still have their domain name policy hidden, and their policing of the trademark only increases the cost to market WordPress related services via Adwords (lower quality score because less specific “WP” used by advertisers)
The WordPress domain name policy is linked to from the “About” page on WordPress.org:
http://wordpres.../about/domains/
Oops, I’ve reserved around 100 domains with the term tweet in them – so I’d really like some clarification on this before I plow any more money into development on some of these. Especially since I was really careful not to reserve any using ‘Twitter’ and after seeing all of these other companies such as tweetdeck, Tweetie, etc I didn’t think Twitter had the trademark on ‘Tweet’ – although I didn’t do a trademark search.
From articles I’ve read, Twitter really encourages the Twitter ecosystem so this is concerning.
Squat Scum. Rock On!
“Reserved”?
You mean “squatted”.
Keeping them warm for that killer project huh? Or just hoping someone will desperately need one of them for an actual, real project?
Meh.
Let’s just stop this nonsense. If I buy lakefront property, but don’t build a house on it, am I a squatter?
If you buy a lakefront property with the express desire of selling it to the boat-house developers when they need it, yes, (I’d say) you’re a “squatter”. Not that it is necessarily a “bad thing”.
Yes you are if you buy 100 properties in a new subdivision. That is why many have a clause stating you must build inside of a predetermined amount of time. And I doubt they would sell them to you knowing you are just going to sit on them since a bunch of empty lots doesn’t help the community they are trying to build. But in this housing economy not sure if that would fly anymore. Bad analogy either way.
If your lakefront is really popular, yes.
If you buy a piece of land in a city and just sit on it, yes, you’re a squatter.
If you put billboard ads with neon lights all over your property, the neighborhood would mind after a while, yes.
I’ve grown tired of starting a project, making up names and seeing them taken by someone just waiting to take my money for nothing in return.
Pete & Philippe, You morons,
That’s called ‘Investing’ in virtual real estate. Called em squatters you ignorant fools.
If you can’t find a name for your project, get an alternate. As if the world is keen and dying for your next venture. No one cares about your projects. You could die today and no one will care you pathetic fools.
You said, “If you buy a piece of land in a city and just sit on it, yes, you’re a squatter.”
Shame on your Mama for giving birth to an ignorant moron like you.
That’s just plain silly. People often buy up property in hopes that it will someday become popular. There is no difference between that and someone buying up domains they think will one day be popular.
“I’ve grown tired of starting a project, making up names and seeing them taken by someone just waiting to take my money for nothing in return.”
Huh? So they take your money and they still get to keep the name? …. Oh wait, you meant YOU want the domain name for nothing in return … got it.
It’s opportunism. I ‘m amazed at how easily you bash the people who drove the us to the credit crunch for their behavior yet you consider domain squatting a legitimate ‘business’
hope you never manage to sell them. I ‘d never buy one, even if i had to advertise my website with my IP address
All for development on a single project that is currently underway. Now don’t you feel foolish
Hang on, he never said what businesses he was building on them. Would we have called Tweetdeck squatters before they’d launched the client application?
Don’t be so fast to judge. He never said he was looking to sell them back to Twitter.
Ian Hendry
CEO, WeCanDo.BIZ
http://www.wecando.biz
Yeah, because I’m sure he’s planning on developing content for “around 100″ tweet services.
/s
That is correct.
POS!!!!
http://equitymi...d.blogspot.com/
you’re a tool.
Umm…in what way?
The bigger issue to me is that I don’t care to see any more websites with tweet in the name. I get them all confused as it is today. Was it tweepular? twopular? tweetme? tweepme? Ahh, who gives a shit! Carry on.
Woot! We got a Tweepular plug on Techcrunch. LOL
hey actually read your response prior to posting.
1. rock on with yo bad self. glad you’re not simply squatting.
2. domain squatters can be scum or smart businessmen just like any “enterprise”.
deal with it.
We all feel sorry with domain squatters.
I think they meant to say that they don’t like a combination of two similarities, both the name and design being similar to Twitter’s could be misleading.
can they trademark ‘tweet’? looks like an ordinary word for me
Twitter applied for Trademark on April 16, 2009 – http://tess2.us...008:hdfujb.2.12
Tweetdeck applied for Tweetdeck Trademark on April 30, 2009 http://tess2.us...008:hdfujb.2.19
It’s a Service Mark, not a Trade Mark.
http://www.lega...rvice-mark.html
Their claim does not cover the 140 factor. Should we expect a claim on Tweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeets anytime soon?
So if I reserved most of my domains prior to that date – I should be ok then?
not necessarily. the law on this type of stuff is murky.
No.
Nope. You’re screwed, liar squatter
i’ve had tweetup.com since june 2007. so I guess I’m ok.
You have to at least respect the fact though that they opened a dialogue with this start up. I mean at least it wasn’t like what Apple did to the 9 year old girl that sent in a suggestion.
Hi, Indeed, Twitter Inc trademarked the word “tweet” here in europe at the midst of june 2009.
Seems like something is going on .
Pretty much every major and minor twitter application has some variation of the word tweet in it. They better be planning to piss off alot of people.
To fight public opinion in court and win would be a big PR mistake even if they eventually get away with it.
And that’s how Twitter falls. It’s either not their place to complain about the word” “tweet” or they’re going to have to enforce their philosophy towards it. possibly damned if they do and damned if they don’t. Then again, they could experiment and just let people run hog wild.
Damn, guess you’re going to have to scrap your Tweetcrunch rebranding project
LOL…
they can just rebrand to TwitCrunch and feature all the twitter posts (I believe most of MG’s would go there)
then you can get an email from leo laporte regarding his TWiT trademark.
Steve Colbert twatted a few nights ago.
I eagerly await seeing apps coming out with similar but slightly different names, like Twang, Twoot, Tootle and Tw@t…
lol
Sounds like the early days of Digg when they went crazy with trademark law.
Its not because they WANT to be douchbags and moan about the use of their trademarked item.
Its simply because if you have something trademarked its your responsibility to ensure it is used only by yourself and not by other parties.
If you don’t police the use of your trademark you run the risk of loosing the rights to it.
Or something like that…
I just checked the US Patent Office and Trademark website and “TWEET” trademark has been applied for on April 14, 2009 but has not yet been finalized. http://tess2.us...006:67gm89.2.12
If they were smart this would’ve happen before launch, but they aren’t.
Oh well.
Are they mad? They don’t need to protect it, they need to encourage it.
They are succeeding in hijacking the term ‘tweet’ and relating it to their brand, in a similar way as Google became ‘to google’. That’s massive.
Shortly, we will start to see second definitions appearing in dictionaries:
1. make a weak, chirping sound; ‘the small bird was tweeting in the tree’;
2. publish a 140 character message on Twitter.
There will be future generations of youths who have no idea that ‘to tweet’ has anything to do with chirping birds.
“They don’t need to protect it”
Are you mad? As others have noted, it’s their brand and they should protect it. If someone screws around with a Twitter-related product and creates a horrible user experience, some of that will be associated with the Twitter service. Not good.
And it’s a branding thing, not a “hijacking” thing. Companies do it all the time, yet the English language stays in decent shape. Just looking at Apple’s trademarks, for example: Apple, Carbon, Charcoal, Cocao, Gadget, Leopard, Panther, Quartz, Sand, Shuffle, Tubes… It’s not just the word, it’s a unique distinguishing mark for the product/service/brand.
Are they planning to ask the news networks to stop saying tweet? Or use their logo? Course not.
My guess is that the site was uncomfortable to Twitter in general, and Tweet was just a TM they could reference.
To me ‘Tweet’ is a verb (I think thats right) it describes an action.. It’s something you do, not a slogan, but I don’t think it’s in the dictionary… Maybe if it’s was it would be different. To me though tweet is like saying google to describe searching for something on the net.. Not that it makes it right to use the term of course but for me here is the main point.. If people use Twitter via a 3rd party app or not it’s still effectivley using Twitter.. More business for them.. No? If they want to combat it they should develop their own app for people to use.. Like I suggested to them months and months ago.
tweet |twēt| (also tweet tweet)
noun
the chirp of a small or young bird.
You might also like to know that “TWIT” has been trademarked by leo LaPorte for quite some time now. Here is a better link to search trademarks: http://tess2.us...4010:hiooe9.1.1
well there goes TwitCruch… and no TweetCrunch, where to put all those twitter fanboy posts?
Twitcrunch would only be infringing if they are doing broadcasting/netcasting audio/video. Just like how if John Twitter opened a burger joint called Twitter’s. Twitter couldn’t stop it unless he ripped off other parts of the service (look/feel). But thats not saying Twitter couldn’t sue anyways like Apple always does.
fixed twitter field
twunch!
Yup, not to forget TorrentTwitter.com.
Put a copyright on a dictionary word? Yeh
Put a copyright on a dictionary word?
http://dictiona...om/browse/tweet
–noun
1. a weak chirping sound, as of a young or small bird.
–verb (used without object)
2. to make such a sound.
Origin:
1835–45; imit.
Right…
it’s the context in which it’s used. I seem to remember a small company named “apple” a while back….
Never heard of them. Can you expound?
TIA
深表关注呀
每次都发feed吗？
是每次
That’s gotta be nonsense. I develop a twitter client called TweetMind. The twitter api guys have been nothing but helpful and supportive during development and knew of the name way before it was publicly launched.
I guess if the history of the xerox trademark is anything to go by ‘twitter’, ‘twittering’, ‘tweet’ and ‘tweeting’ could be, albeit disputably, considered common nouns and verbs in a not too distant future.
http://en.wikip...Xerox#Trademark
THAT’s the story. XEROX spent many hundreds of thousands of dollars defending their trademark against people who wanted to start photocopying companies with “xerox” in their names, because the word “xerox” was being used as a replacement for “photo copy”, as in, “Run down and xerox this for me.”
In order to prevent the loss of their trademark protections, any trademark owner MUST aggressively defend their trademark or they WILL lose it. From the USPTO, regarding XEROX and Kellogg’s and others: “Sometimes, trademarks that are originally distinctive can become generic over time, thereby losing its trademark protection.”
If Twitter does NOT vigorously hunt down and destroy infringers, they WILL lose any trademark protections. If “twitter” and “tweet” become generic terms for phone-based messaging services, and Twitter Corporate does not stay vigilant, they could easily lose their brand.
That being said, I’m not sure that “tweet” is related to “twitter” in any way, as they are quite distinctive in their dictionary meanings, but if Twitter USES them in a consistent manner AND attempts to trademark and then defend them, they could definitely gain the legal protections that trademarking provides. Of course, they need to apply for trademarks in every governance region on the planet, which they have done in America and the EU. They still need to do it in Russia, China and other governance regions if they want to protect the brand in those areas.
I wonder what would they say about this one: http://twiter.com/
what about http://www.tvitter.com/ … lolllzzzzz
dang! I am sick with this.
http://12circle...st-twitter.html
I don’t own any of these trademarks. I’ll check with the wife, Mrs. Zippersteyn but I don’t think she has any either, so the coast seems clear. Go ahead and call your product TweetWhatever. Benesimo!
I heard somethng called OYETWEET too used by an entertainment portal http://www.bigoye.com
This isn’t surprising to me. Just part of Twitter’s continued evolution of becoming more difficult for developer’s to work with. Believe me, I know! See my story about StatTweets if you aren’t familiar with it: http://statshee...-my-own-twitter
That’s pretty interesting. It makes sense that Twitter would trademark the word though I don’t remember it ever really being publicized. But, as the post mentions, there are a lot of apps that use the word “tweet” in their name. Twitter has never seen opposed to letting developers work with the product. This will be very interesting to see where this leads and whether or not they continue to push the trademark on developers.
Well– i must say I thought it strange that it was not already service marked– i used it before they filed– so those of us who pre-date their delay will just have to be bought out.
There is no way to be retro with Tweet–
Their ad hoc business model seems to be –we cannot afford the team or the consults for apps so lets let everybody do them for free and pick what we want– then when the infraastructure is ligitimized and somewhat validated we will …
@dey, are you positive about this sort of grandfather position? I do not know the law but one case in point is I developed a certain wine website that uses a very common two word phrase throughout as keywords everywhere and in article titles even.
I did find out that the phrase was trademarked on my own and that I had been using it before their trademark was fully granted, even though they had applied before I had used it.
Then after discussing this with counsel they informed me to quit using it. I never heard from the trademark holder yet just voluntarily quit using it. I can not afford litigation.
If Twitter are making threats regarding a mark that has not been registered but only applied for then they are asking for trouble. In my country that is an offence and they can be sued for making unsubstantiated threats.
Due to the co-dependence of Twitter and the eco-system I think its likely that they’ll keep this friendly approach to protecting their brand.
However if you rip them off, they will no doubt beat your ass (litigiously speaking). Twitter own all your apps anyway as they are spun off from their own invention.
It makes sense for them to play nice. Litigation is always a failure to reach an agreement. If everyone can remain reasonable (and TC stops being a big wooden spoon) every thing should be cool.
We cool?
Your trademark reference link has expired
Hmm, I love Twitty.. do you?
If they trademarked the word “Twit,” how much money could they get from all the infringers?
I’ve never understood why people build their entire business model around another business model, and act shocked when the original business model owner asks you to stop.
Yet another reason to use HootSuite.
Just to let you know, the TESS searches expire after a short time, so the link you updated with is dead now.
As cool as Twitter is – and for me as a solo freelancer, it’s both a source of income leads and a place to engage with my community – if they’re trying to trademark a word in common vernacular, which tweet is (we all know it also means birdsong, and it’s that usage for which the analogous term exists for a message on Twitter) then they should turn rapidly around and extract their collective heads from their arses.
I hope the USPTO and whatever international agencies are relevant tell them to go away.
It’s only a matter of time before our favorite flavor of the month becomes passe as the next big thing appears.
Grow up, Twitter, FFS!
This is EXACTLY correct. Just because something is popular for a small moment in time, doesn’t mean it owns the rights to generic dictionary terms.
It doesn’t help twitter to sue the people who are expanding on their application. In stead of taking it as a compliment, they take legal recourse, which always ends in negative PR.
Tweet, and twit are not terms created by twitter. Claiming that they invented those terms is absolutely absurd. I don’t understand how all of these companies think they own words that they did not create. How can you have rights to something you did not create? TM Law is psuedo law, and if you actually take the time you will see almost every word or phrase has been TMed or been attempted to.
And funny that the people complaining the loudest about this are all linked to domain selling or domain squatting in some way.
This post obviously did the rounds in the domain selling community. For everyone else it’s just a storm in a teacup.
Seriously @domainsponsor didn’t your parent company squeeze a guy who owned SwapNames.com because you claimed his domain was similar to SnapNames.com ? OH right that’s different. Or how about the guy in the UK who owns DomainFest.co.uk who you muscled to give his domain name to you ? When the term was being used before you even trademarked it .. . Oh that’s different too . . right right.
This is probably in reference to http://tweetree.com which mimics Twitter almost to a T then on top of that, has a lot of subtle GUI changes to make it 10x more useful than the original Twitter website.
I thought I heard that Twitter users came up with the idea to call posting to twitter tweeting? No?
It’s simply too late I think, to ask developers to stop using the word “tweet” in their apps. Also, at this point, Twitter should be continuing to foster and encourage the growth of 3rd part app developers, not turn them away by forcing changes.
one can’t bully others unless one grows some muscle. Twitter seems to forget who’s feeding their success?
There’s Twitter’s business model: take to court anyone who uses the word tweet! Genius!
No way. If it involves making money somehow, that’s not Twitter would be interested in.
Very true, “twitter is run by hippies”. They should take people to court, make some money, and get over it
I’ve always thought it was poor brand management on Twitter’s part by not protecting terms like “twitter” and “tweet,” up front.
Now it’s going to be a huge pain trying to enforce this with the hundreds or apps and sites already using them. It will be interesting to see how much resistance they get from developers.
agreed. no chance this is going to work. & honestly it’s been to there benefit that these words were used.
they let the “bird” out of the bag.
A trademark simply protects the use of that term in a product or service space; it doesn’t stop you or anyone else from using it outside of that space (thus whether or not it is in the dictionary has *no bearing on the matter*). As long as its not descriptive and isn’t confusingly similar to another mark, then yes, it’s something that can be protected. Go walk around your supermarket if you want to see an endless display of product trademarks based on “words in the dictionary.”
Twitter has a fine and valid claim on “tweet” and they will indeed start to protect it (which some of noticed they *have* to do if they don’t want to lose the mark) — otherwise they wouldn’t have filed for the mark.
And to all those who thought they’d get away with using “tweet” in their own product/service BUILT ON TOP of twitter: welcome to the real world. Next time hire an attorney who would have advised you to rename your efforts.
Interesting article. I’m releasing a product called Twitterface today and our tagline is “tweetmeup” – anyone have any good product name suggestions? LOL!!!
It is curious, this exchange. I’m dying to know what the app is that they feel looks too much like them, because in the design of Twitterface I deliberately made some similar UI choices, that I did not have to (like the fonts used) to make it easier on the USER going from the web version to our web-based version.
I asked my developer if Twitter inquired about our product when we were white-listed, and he says “They asked me to give them a brief introduction about our product before whitelisting the IP so I provided them twitterface.me URL (our blog) along with some introductory paragraphs copied from there.”
Which means they have not seen the product at all. Oy vey.
“make it easier on the USER going from the web version to our web-based version”
do work for TC? this makes no sense
go start your own business.
I am a user experience professional. I am always thinking of the user’s flow from one product to another, especially when our product uses the Twitter api to function. Given the nature of seeing more than one account on the screen we had to do a lot of things differently so this is no more a copycat product than any other client is. A client, by nature of being a client copies Twitter functionality to some degree.
I have to respond in defense of Kristi, who is honorable, intelligent and professional. Personal attacks in comments don’t make you look professional nor does it make people want to visit your site. Just an FYI. Trolling isn’t profitable for anyone, especially the troll.