Twitpic revealed that it will shut down after legal notices from Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR). The online image sharing service on Twitter decided to close down after a legal dispute over the approval of the name as a trademark. According to Twitter, the name breaches its trademark.
Twitpic lack resources to fight Twitter
Twitpic has been a popular online service since it was launched in 2008 as it allowed the users to add photos on Twitter Inc’s network. However, the micro-blogging service has now introduced its own feature of photo-sharing feature directly within its web service.
According to Twitpic founder Noah Everett, Twitter had sent them a notice asking to drop the trademark. Everett said that Twitter wrote that if Twitpic fails to do so, it will lose Twitter API, the technology specification through which Twitpic works with the social platform.
The founder of the six-year old company said that they did not have enough resource to stand against a large company like Twitter. This is the reason why Twitpic will shut down.
“Unfortunately we do not have the resources to fend off a large company like Twitter to maintain our mark which we believe wholeheartedly is rightfully ours,” Everett said in a blog post.
Twitter issued a statement saying that it is sad that Twitpic is closing its service as the company has always backed developers to build on top of Twitter service, as Twitpic has done for years. The company added that they, “made it clear that they could operate using the Twitpic name. Of course, we also have to protect our brand, and that includes trademarks tied to the brand.”
Not in favour of users
Twitpic has been in the business for long enough and gathered a decent user base simply by its own efforts. The company has to fall just because of its name which would be sad. Those who posted pictures on Twitter via Twitpic will now see broken photos posted by them. Close of this third-party application also means that millions of photos shared on Twitter will now be broken.
Twitter keeps on getting into such brawls with the third-party apps that are based in its social network. Back in 2011, the company blocked Uber, third-party mobile app that gave unique feature to Twitter users
