Twitter is not comfortable with the word Tweet being used in applications that are third-party developed. The company doesn't want their clients to be confused about who is behind applications that aren't a real Twitter product.
The word Tweet has been trademarked with Twitter, Inc. When applications appear on the horizon using the word tweet in them the developer is liable to get an email from Twitter.
Tech Crunch reports on one such letter:
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,
The
email was sent to the developers because their User Interface was so closely named to Twitter's that it could be confused by future users of the application.
The company has barred the use of Twitter in application names already. At this time there are several applications that carry the word Tweet in their name such as TweetDeck, TweetMeme, Tweetie and BackTweets. Those platforms and applications were not developed by
Twitter which could confuse some people.
Tech Crunch was told by Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter the company's position of the naming of such applications:
“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.”
Twitter may be getting some bad air time right now on this issue as those in the application world are getting worked up about Twitter's concerns. In any other business area though the use of a popular copyrighted name in a new product is skirting legal issues.
