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112 Comments
- mattym, on 10/12/2007, -5/+68Can someone please explain the current obsession with Twitter? Seriously, I just don't get it,
but I'd really like to know why people are so into it...maybe I'm missing something. - Raian, on 10/12/2007, -2/+58I think Leo is working on protecting his TWiT trademark-- He said he would send a cease and desist letter to twitter in his net@nite podcast -- then he would licence the trademark to twitter for a dollar a year.
The reason being, if he doesn't do this he will lose TWiT. - hawk_eye, on 10/12/2007, -4/+54hmmm ... after going ra ra over twitter in multiple shows / podcasts over the past few weeks, this move caught me by surprise. I would fault Leo Laporte's timing here, if indeed wanted protect the twit trademark, he should acted earlier, not after playing a rather active part in promoting it (IIRC the twitter chap was also on the net@nite podcast a few weeks ago)
- jakejarvis, on 10/12/2007, -2/+42Update: Since Leo's account was eventually deleted, the link no longer works -- his blog post is here: http://leoville.vox.com/library/post/goodbye-twitter-hello-jaiku.html
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -15/+48Hmmmm, twitter must be one of the dumbest sites i have ever wasted 30 seconds browsing
- SamKellett, on 10/12/2007, -9/+34For an established company, that's such a horrible 404 page, or, is Twitter run by 12 year olds?
- KnightMareInc, on 10/12/2007, -8/+31have to defend the trademark or you lose it.
- btgoss, on 10/12/2007, -5/+21I know your being dugg down, but I think Leo himself said that he was going to be forced into doing something like this, or as you said he would lose hise trademark for TWIT. I haven't read his blog yet, but I am sure he is not happy that he has to do that, but with Twitter being something that could become huge, he has to do it, or lose all of the IP he has in TWIT. It does suck tho...
- stalefries, on 10/12/2007, -2/+18it's like a cross between a blog and im status messages. I don't quite get the draw either.
- jcavaliere, on 10/12/2007, -6/+21My only answer is television has gotten THAT bad
- kolop1, on 10/12/2007, -5/+19People use twitter for a week or so. Then stop using it. It's more an internet fad than anything else.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11I have wondered many times why Leo didn't go after Ev for taking the twit name for a joyride..
I think Leo likes Ev and was basically too nice to pursue it. If it was
called wanker, it would have reached far fewer people. - TheWorm, on 10/12/2007, -6/+14As a new listener to TWiT, I was under the impression Twitter was related to TWiT.
- Swampthing, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Don't confuse a Twit with a *****...
- MikeOSX, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Leo was the most popular person on Twitter. I believe he could have handled it more professionally and mature than asking everyone to join Twitter, just to ask them to switch to a new app because he doesn't like the similarities in the name. He should have thought of that before he was promoting Twitter left and right.
- audiocollective, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6This is totally silly stuff. There is a clear distinction between TWiT and Twitter! I understand you have to protect your trademark and that is cool but to totally leave the thing is silly. Leo has raved on about it and out of nowhere besides to leave it. That makes it totally sound like his motives are not in the right place. ($) Reminds me of when he got freaked out over pod in podcasting. I think he should re-evaluate who is giving him legal help.
- SilentSpyder, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Same thing happened with Digg a while ago. KRose said they HAD to go after some of the clone sites or they would lose the trademark.
- pb30, on 02/15/2008, -0/+5http://twitter.com/leomatic is posting his Jaiku feed on twitter
- CthulhuDawn, on 10/12/2007, -10/+14What the hell is up with Leo lately? I've always been a fan, but as of recent he's been whiny as *****. On the last episode of TWiT he criticized Kevin and Diggnation for endorsing "binge drinking." Now he's bitching about a website which he ENDORSED because it has a catchy name too similar to his. Give me a break.
Maybe he's been hanging out with Dvorak too long... - ShiverMeBoner, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Wouldn't it be possible to give express permission to certain people to use your trademark? Then you wouldn't lose your trademark by not defending it.
- spoooon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5You have to realize that most of the podcast on TWiT are done days/weeks in advance so there is a lot more time then you are thinking between the recording of that show and his blog post...
- jhuebel, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7But do you really want people to know your every move? People are constantly complaining about privacy issues on the 'net, yet they'll talk about every minute detail of their lives IN PUBLIC on twitter...
- Nothlit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"What happened?" He probably talked to his lawyer...
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Aren't windows and lindows OS both?
- GaryK, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Did anyone listen to yesterday's Windows Weekly podcast from TWiT? Leo was telling everyone how great twitter was. No mention of brand name confusion. Then just a few hours later in a blog post he disassociated himself with twitter over trademark and brand name concerns. What happened in the few hours between the podcast and his blog post?
- cinnix, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7It's more useful if you got friends who will follow your status :P
- FairlyStupid, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5I'm sure someone has already said this before but Twitter has got to be the most annoying and stupid Web 2.0 idea to actually hit the internet in a LONG time. I don't understand the fascination, and how the owners EVER hope to make any real money on it. The only people there are the ones who have gotten SOOO low on self esteem that only a website can make them feel important every few minutes.
hmmm... - Jjcd7, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4That describes me. Eventually I realized I didn't have enough friends online who care about what I'm doing enough to get a Twitter account.
- shanmac, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Trademark law aside, this leaves a bad taste in my mouth about Leo. Maybe it was naive of me, but I thought we were dawning on a new era of companies sharing info with their competitors instead of selfishly defending it.
- gcnaddict, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6"but if they aren't the same then it's not a trademark violation. "
Say that to Lindows--er, Linspire. (Freespire wins props though) - cawpin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Nope, and that's exactly why he has to take this action. If he doesn't, he can't in the future.
- nicktripp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Twitter is no fun without friends. That's the main gist of it. For me, the appeal is that my close friends are spread out all over the country can update throughout the day, and I get to feel like I'm that much more a part of their lives. It probably seems silly, but it's just a fun social tool. Nothing more.
As for the privacy, you can choose to hide your updates from the public timeline, which makes them only available to your friends. - fsjonsey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Is it Caturday?
- GaryK, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@spoooon: Normally I'd agree with you but I was under the impression this was a live episode of Windows Weekly. That's what Leo kept saying all through the podcast. They were even taking calls from listeners. I guess that doesn't necessarily mean it was done live that day right before being pushed out so you're probably right. Someone else's comment about the lawyers is probably right too. Maybe they listen to the podcast and freaked out thus forcing Leo to take immediate action.
BTW, I like to consider myself an intelligent person. And yet at first I thought twitter had something to do with TWiT. So maybe Leo is doing what he needs to do to protect his much-loved TWiT network of podcasts. I don't blindly agree with everything Leo says or does, but I respect him a lot. If he needs to do this then I'm sure he has good reasons. It was just the apparent timing of the podcast and then the blog post that had me confused.
One more BTW. I'm really starting to like Digg. Good work Kevin and all the members who help make this such a good site. - Universal, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5He had 4436+ followers, a world record? P.S. His account is still there, for now. http://twitter.com/leolaporte
- KnightMareInc, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5yup in one of the podcast(forget which) he said he has to send a C&D before he could make any sort of deal.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I heard second hand that Leo said in his podcast that he would license it to Twitter for 1 buck a year.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Why? The last thing Leo wants is to force them out.
- xenixninja, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Not really. TWiT and Twitter isn't just two different words, they are two different services/products.
It's like Starbucks going after Star Air, Star Ferry and so on, because they use Star in the beginning of their company name.
All Leo is doing is giving Twitter free advertising. - vancanucksfan, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5maybe now leo should change TWiT to *****
- bmnrocks, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2jhuebel,
I only speak for myself of course, but I believe that most people want privacy to be their choice, not the choice of someone else. I am very pro privacy but also detail a lot on my blog for anyone to see(mainly family), but it all comes down to it being MY CHOICE. - judsond, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Well, the mobile aspect I think is the most useful feature. There's no functionality that is better in it that IM, but you get them sent via sms if you want, and you can update via sms.
@jhuebel: Not the same people probably :) - KnightMareInc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@ShiverMeBoner
yes but like leo said in that podcast he still would have to send a C&D before that could happen. - mikesum32, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2He won't lose anything, Twitter is not the same as TWiT. If someone had their own net-cast about technology and called it TWiT, then maybe Leo might lose it, but if they aren't the same then it's not a trademark violation.
- StealthTomato, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Not necessarily, xenix. If you don't defend your trademark, then you lose it.
Leo doesn't want to sue Twitter over his recently-acquired TWiT trademark, but it seemed like he might have to in order to preserve the TWiT trademark.
Though, I don't see why he needs to trademark it in the first place.
Also, I don't see how him deleting his Twitter account helps the trademark confusion, from a legal standpoint. - cawpin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@pixelpuncher - He's not concerned about the existing TWIT audience. He is trying to get his whole network to be accessible to anyone and listenable by anyone, not just geeks.
- thepaul, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I agree Leo is not a fool, however his reaction to the name "twitter" reveals one of the problems with copyright. Certainly 'twitter' is a legitimate word and the dictionary reveals the definition. In fact the definition of the word is very applicable to Twitter.
Leo should protect his copyright, but, he totally off base on this one. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3All hail Leo. The man's awesome.
- pgm_01, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'm sure that http://www.tweeter.com/home/index.jsp will be fine with that.
- diggboy101, on 01/08/2008, -0/+1I dugg you up.
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