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Started By
Message
How is Threads legal?
Posted on 7/6/23 at 7:49 am
Posted on 7/6/23 at 7:49 am
Hi y’all,
I never post on this board, so apologies if this question is outside of the scope of normal discussion here. But I’m baffled on this Threads launch, so I’m hoping a tech-savvy lawyer may be lurking here and able to help out….
So it’s abundantly clear that Threads is a blatant and obvious rip off of Twitter. There’s no new functions, no change to the interface, really nothing new at all aside from the name and the ability to link to Instagram. They are even marketing themselves as the “Twitter of Meta” for goodness sake….
So my question is, how is this legal? Is there really no legal protection for one tech company just blatantly ripping off the product of another? And if not, should there be?
Any lawyers here with insight on tech IP? I’m sure one company can’t just blatantly steal another company’s code. But can they really steal each other’s entire front-end like this? And if so, is there any way that this leads to any outcome other than an extremely small number of companies completely owning digital spaces? Without any legal protection, it seems inevitable that the big guys will just keep stealing all new innovations, integrating them to their larger networks, and crushing startups before they ever have a chance to become actual competitors. Can’t imagine that dynamic being good for innovation.
Anyway, just looking for any insight on the legal framework around this business practice. Google was (perhaps predictably) unhelpful in answering this question
I never post on this board, so apologies if this question is outside of the scope of normal discussion here. But I’m baffled on this Threads launch, so I’m hoping a tech-savvy lawyer may be lurking here and able to help out….
So it’s abundantly clear that Threads is a blatant and obvious rip off of Twitter. There’s no new functions, no change to the interface, really nothing new at all aside from the name and the ability to link to Instagram. They are even marketing themselves as the “Twitter of Meta” for goodness sake….
So my question is, how is this legal? Is there really no legal protection for one tech company just blatantly ripping off the product of another? And if not, should there be?
Any lawyers here with insight on tech IP? I’m sure one company can’t just blatantly steal another company’s code. But can they really steal each other’s entire front-end like this? And if so, is there any way that this leads to any outcome other than an extremely small number of companies completely owning digital spaces? Without any legal protection, it seems inevitable that the big guys will just keep stealing all new innovations, integrating them to their larger networks, and crushing startups before they ever have a chance to become actual competitors. Can’t imagine that dynamic being good for innovation.
Anyway, just looking for any insight on the legal framework around this business practice. Google was (perhaps predictably) unhelpful in answering this question
9
Posted on 7/6/23 at 8:50 am to funnystuff
Have you seen Truth?
Posted on 7/6/23 at 9:13 am to Clint Torres
Yea, and I agree that one is pretty screwed up too
But there’s also something different about a complete unknown entity starting up as an imitation of a larger competitor verse a larger multinational copying the product of a smaller competitor.
For the smaller company to overcome the larger one, they must offer something preferable to overcome their smaller size disadvantage. But for a larger company to defeat a smaller one, all they need to do is hook up their prebuilt user base to the copied platform and then exploit the network effects that come with it. You don’t need to do anything better if you are the larger company copying the smaller one. At the least the smaller company needs to create some type of new value to compete.
But there’s also something different about a complete unknown entity starting up as an imitation of a larger competitor verse a larger multinational copying the product of a smaller competitor.
For the smaller company to overcome the larger one, they must offer something preferable to overcome their smaller size disadvantage. But for a larger company to defeat a smaller one, all they need to do is hook up their prebuilt user base to the copied platform and then exploit the network effects that come with it. You don’t need to do anything better if you are the larger company copying the smaller one. At the least the smaller company needs to create some type of new value to compete.
Posted on 7/6/23 at 9:17 am to funnystuff
I don’t think it’s that easy to actually move the conversation. Twitter’s power users have amassed large amounts of followers and it would require significant effort to rebuild that on another platform.
Posted on 7/6/23 at 9:37 am to funnystuff
quote:
So my question is, how is this legal? Is there really no legal protection for one tech company just blatantly ripping off the product of another? And if not, should there be?
Unless they own a patent on the design of the website then, which I doubt they could get awarded on something as simplistic as Twitter. Then yes it is 100% legal.
The only "moat" most social media companies have is just that they typically either have first mover advantage and/or build up a large enough user base it is hard to replace them
Posted on 7/6/23 at 9:41 am to UltimaParadox
Why does Ford have competitors? How is that legal?
I hope facebook along with "threads" dies and closes down.
I hope facebook along with "threads" dies and closes down.
Posted on 7/6/23 at 9:59 am to funnystuff
What exactly is there for Twitter to protect? It's pretty much just a variation of the same idea as BBS/message boards that people have been using since computer networks have existed.
Posted on 7/6/23 at 10:10 am to funnystuff
As someone else alluded to, Twitter and Threads are about as similar as cars made by different companies. They are both cars, obviously, and from a distance they look almost exactly the same. Four wheels, doors and windows. Looking closer they both have extremely similar layouts and features. Steering wheel, seats, radio, and on and on. The only differences are a little bit of cosmetics on the surface, and the nuts and bolts of how they're built and how they work.
It's legal because competition is legal, and thankfully so.
It's legal because competition is legal, and thankfully so.
Posted on 7/6/23 at 10:35 am to Korkstand
i mean, at its heart isnt twitter just a texting app except the text can be seen by everyone?
seems that would be hard to patent.
seems that would be hard to patent.
Posted on 7/6/23 at 10:47 am to funnystuff
quote:
But I’m baffled on this Threads launch, so I’m hoping a tech-savvy lawyer may be lurking here and able to help out….
I'm no tech savvy lawyer, I also have no clue what Threads looks like, but I am old enough to know that this lawsuit happened already in the 80s and 90s with Apple vs. Microsoft and "look and feel" isn't a thing you can protect.
quote:
Apple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corporation, 35 F.3d 1435 (9th Cir. 1994),[1] was a copyright infringement lawsuit in which Apple Computer, Inc. (now Apple Inc.) sought to prevent Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard from using visual graphical user interface (GUI) elements that were similar to those in Apple's Lisa and Macintosh operating systems.[2] The court ruled that, "Apple cannot get patent-like protection for the idea of a graphical user interface, or the idea of a desktop metaphor [under copyright law]...".[1] In the midst of the Apple v. Microsoft lawsuit, Xerox also sued Apple alleging that Mac's GUI was heavily based on Xerox's.[3] The district court dismissed Xerox's claims without addressing whether Apple's GUI infringed Xerox's.[4] Apple lost all claims in the Microsoft suit except for the ruling that the trash can icon and folder icons from Hewlett-Packard's NewWave windows application were infringing. The lawsuit was filed in 1988 and lasted four years; the decision was affirmed on appeal in 1994,[1] and Apple's appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was denied.
LINK
This post was edited on 7/6/23 at 10:48 am
Posted on 7/6/23 at 10:54 am to funnystuff
How is competition illegal? Non competition monopolies are illegal.
Posted on 7/6/23 at 11:22 am to funnystuff
There's no protection to looking and acting similar. If they had taken Twitter code directly then sure they could have a case.
Look at all the Netflix competitors: Hulu, Prime, HBO Max, Peacock, and 100 more not worth naming. There have no doubt been a few dozen Twitter lookalike competitors over the years but the trouble is always in getting traction and users.
Look at all the Netflix competitors: Hulu, Prime, HBO Max, Peacock, and 100 more not worth naming. There have no doubt been a few dozen Twitter lookalike competitors over the years but the trouble is always in getting traction and users.
Posted on 7/6/23 at 11:23 am to funnystuff
Double post
This post was edited on 7/6/23 at 11:24 am
Posted on 7/6/23 at 11:27 am to Thundercles
I think , If Threads had a button that said “click here to import everything from your Twitter account” , then they’d be in trouble as that would be stealing Twitter’s data.
I’ve heard of stories about small start up social media companies they got in trouble because they tried to do the same thing, click here to import everything from Facebook into our platform, Facebook sued them and won, I believe.
I’ve heard of stories about small start up social media companies they got in trouble because they tried to do the same thing, click here to import everything from Facebook into our platform, Facebook sued them and won, I believe.
Posted on 7/6/23 at 11:47 am to funnystuff
(no message)
This post was edited on 4/21/24 at 11:37 am
Posted on 7/7/23 at 8:04 am to funnystuff
Looks like there may be an avenue if they can prove ex Twitter employees hired by Meta used Twitter intellectual property.
Twitter threatens to sue
Twitter threatens to sue
Posted on 7/7/23 at 8:18 am to Korkstand
You could give so many examples. Cell phones, spreadsheet programs, word processing programs, web browsers, and college fan sites.
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