Robin Wauters currently works as a staff writer for TechCrunch and lead editor of Virtualization.com. Aside from his professional blogging activities, he’s an entrepreneur, event organizer, occasional board adviser and angel investor but most importantly an all-round startup champion. Wauters lives and works in Belgium, a tiny country in Europe. He can often be found working from his home or... ? Learn More
You may remember that back in July 2009, Twitter made a big stink about developers using the term ‘tweet’ in their Twitter apps. Oddly enough, while Twitter has long been trying to register the ‘tweet’ trademark in the United States, it has so far failed despite its efforts mainly because one or more third-party developer(s) actually beat them to the punch in – successfully – filing for trademarks including the word ‘tweets’.
Now, Twitter has moved to sue one of those developers, online advertising service provider Twittad (see launch coverage), in an attempt to cancel the latter’s registration of the “Let Your Ad Meet Tweets” trademark.
In the complaint, which is embedded below, Twitter alleges as follows:
This action arises from the registration of the mark “LET YOUR AD MEET TWEETS” by Twittad, LLC (“Twittad” or “Defendant”) in connection with online advertising services for use on Twitter. Defendant’s LET YOUR AD MEET TWEETS registration unfairly exploits the widespread association by the consuming public of the mark TWEET with Twitter, and threatens to block Twitter from its registration and legitimate uses of its own mark.
In fact, it appears that Defendant has used LET YOUR AD MEET TWEETS solely as a generic phrase to refer advertising in connection with Twitter itself, and as such it is incapable of serving as a mark, rendering the registration subject cancellation on that ground. Alternatively, if Defendant is able to establish use of LET YOUR AD MEET TWEETS as a mark, its registration is subject to cancellation based on Twitter’s preexisting rights in the TWEET mark.
Accordingly, Twitter seeks cancellation of Twittad’s LET YOUR AD MEET TWEETS trademark registration under the Lanham Act 15 U.S.C. § 1052(d), § 1064 and § 1119.
Twittad originally filed its trademark application on July 2, 2008. From their website:
I have contacted Twittad, but haven’t heard back yet. Twitter comments:
“Twitter’s organic growth has taken many forms, including a widespread, dictionary-documented association of the word ‘Tweet’ with the use of Twitter. It is in the best interests of our users and developers for the meaning of ‘Tweet’ to be preserved to prevent any confusion, so we are taking action to protect its meaning.”
Dictionary-documented, really, you ask? Yup!
In a response to an inquiry made by NyDailyNews.com back in March 2011, Twittad founder James Eliason acknowledged that Twitter had expressed “concern” over the Let Your Ad Meet Tweets trademark and “wanted us to assign our trademark to them.”
However, Eliason called the dispute “a timeline issue” and that his company acquired the rights “well before the word ‘Tweet’ became widely used in the Twitter ecosystem”. He also wrote:
“We firmly stand by our position of the legitimacy of the trademark due to the fact that our mark was cleared by the Trademark office in 2008.”
Fighting words indeed.
However, reading between the lines, it seems like Eliason is trying to cut a deal with Twitter, i.e. sway the company into acquiring Twittad’s U.S. trademark.
Doesn’t look that that’s ever going to happen, though. Notably, Twitter has not only sued them but also suspended Twittad’s @Twittad account. It’s also worth noting that, in the complaint, Twitter asserts that there have been “numerous attempts to resolve the dispute amicably”.
More as the story develops.
Twitter, founded by Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams in March 2006 (launched publicly in July 2006), is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to post their latest updates. An update is limited by 140 characters and can be posted through three methods: web form, text message, or instant message. The company has been busy adding features to the product like Gmail import and search. They recently launched a new site section called “Explore” for...
Learn more Twittad is a 3rd party advertising service that utilizes the Twitter API. It is a place for advertisers and Twitter users to connect for a pay-per-tweet model. Advertisers benefit by being able to create fully customized opt-in campaigns targeting specific demographics of Twitter users and their followers. Twittad also has a Targeted Tweets model for advertisers to send @replies to potential clients who tweet keywords or if the Twitter user is tweeting near their business. Twitter users...
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