Hi Neil
So i guess what Fenwick and Webb are saying is if i manually log into twitter and click to follow each of the people who just wrote about my application "thats ok" http://search.twitter.com/search?q=mytwitterbutler <http://search.twitter.com/search?q=mytwitterbutler> BUT if i use a little .Net application to do it "Then I'm breaking the ‘Law’ and must - Cease and Desist" Cheers, Dean ________________________________ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Neil Ellis Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2009 10:52 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [twitter-dev] Re: FW: Twitter is Suing me!!! Seriously Dean I'm afraid that your application (like a mass mailer) is the kind of the thing that spammers use to fill up our followers list with a bunch of real estate agents and 'social media experts'. Mass following actually harms the community on Twitter which is the reason that you will be finding less sympathy than you expected. Obviously you're bright enough to write applications, rather than dig yourself a hole on this list, why not take a step back and consider what else you could do with those skills. I'm sure you could write an application that contributed to the community more now that you have the experience of writing Twitter applications. I understand that you must be feeling upset, who wouldn't when they get legalese schtick through the email. It's not nice. But they have a point and you have the opportunity to graciously accept the situation and move on to your next idea. The most valuable thing is your skill and entrepreneurial spirit, not a micro app. I wish you good luck in your endeavors. peace Neil On 12 Aug 2009, at 15:14, Dean Collins wrote: So has anyone heard from or know any of the other developers? Did they also get an email last night? twittercounter.com twitterfall.com twitter-friends.com www.twitter.ca www.tinytwitter.com www.twitterbuttons.com www.accessibletwitter.com twitterfeed.com twitterpatterns.com www.twitterlocal.net www.twitterbackgrounds.com twittergallery.com twitteranalyzer.com whentwitterisdown.com destroytwitter.com blog.twittervotereport.com twitter.pbworks.com twitter.polldaddy.com twitter.alltop.com twitter.infinityward.com twitter.grader.com Regards, Dean Collins [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]?subject=i'm%20being%20Sued> +1-212-203-4357 New York +61-2-9016-5642 (Sydney in-dial). +44-20-3129-6001 (London in-dial). ________________________________ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jeremy Darling Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2009 10:12 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [twitter-dev] Re: FW: Twitter is Suing me!!! Actually, I recall it perfectly well. MS threatened action against Mike Roe (a Canadian student as I recall) for his development company. The case was settled OUT OF COURT, with MS basically having to purchase his domain. The same could be applied to this product where Twitter can not demand the URL but they can wait for it to expire and snag it or offer to buy out the owner. On the "point" about aggressively pursuing because they have to. That's a complete and total cop-out, if that were the case then Twitter would be going after ALL offenders and not the select "bad guys", if someone gives twitter a warm fuzzy they view it as ok. According to your statement (and I reviewed the laws a while back on trademarks but will go look again) they can loose their trademark for this action alone. - Jeremy PS: I'm still not a lawyer, I still hate the product, but I still hate the thought more. Of course, their C&D order is little more than a notice to disconnect :) On Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 4:36 AM, Andrew Badera <[email protected]> wrote: On Tue, Aug 11, 2009 at 11:12 PM, Jeremy Darling<[email protected]> wrote: > Funny thing about trademarking a name and trying to utilize that trademark > against a URL, can't be done. If so, MicroSoft would have nailed people > left and right for infringement upon IE (can we say IE7.com and IE8.com) as > well as several other websites that utilize trademarked MS product names > LOL. Several other companies have tried this as well and failed. > > As for Twitter TOS and developer rights. Nope, can't sue for voilation of a > TOS on a public API either. You can suspend "suspect activities" and revoke > developer/company rights but you can't actually file suite on a TOS > violation of this type. Lots of statuatory presidence on the subject. > > On point 3, 80% rule along with the fact that you have clearly labeled in > valid font size the non-affiliation with Twitter again negates this point in > most cases. > > Actually, about the only thing they could get you for would be > Slander/Liable if you were spreading bad publicity about the company that > was un-true. In that case, they could get you for everything your worth > LOL. Then again, being a public entity they would fall under the same laws > as the movie stars and other public figures and would basically have to suck > it up in the end. > > - Jeremy > Apparently you fail to recall the "MikeRoweSoft.com" case. Twitter can most definitely enforce their trademark here. ∞ Andy Badera ∞ This email is: [ ] bloggable [x] ask first [ ] private ∞ Google me: http://www.google.com/search?q=(andrew+badera)+OR+(andy+badera) <http://www.google.com/search?q=%28andrew+badera%29+OR+%28andy+badera%29>
