Twitter threatens legal action over Threads app

[TheSkipper]

I was under the impression that you can’t copyright appearance, but you can code. TikTok is a direct imitation of Instagram that incorporated new features and made itself trendy by appealing to young people. Meta’s Thread does look similar, but you can’t claim exclusive ownership of features. I think Elon Musk is just preparing for the wrong battle.

Quote

 

Twitter is considering legal action against Meta over its fast-growing rival app Threads.

Threads, which was launched to millions on Wednesday, is similar to Twitter and has been pitched by Meta bosses as a "friendly" alternative.

Twitter's Elon Musk said "competition is fine, cheating is not" - but Meta denied claims in a legal letter that ex-Twitter staff helped create Threads.

More than 30 million people have signed up for the new app, according to Meta.

The look and feel of Threads is similar to Twitter, BBC News technology reporter James Clayton noted. He said the news feed and the reposting were incredibly familiar.

In a move first reported by news outlet Semafor, Twitter attorney Alex Spiro sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday accusing Meta of "systematic, wilful, and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter's trade secrets and other intellectual property" to create Threads.

Specifically, Mr Spiro alleged that Meta hired dozens of former Twitter employees who "had and continue to have access to Twitter's trade secrets and other highly confidential information" that ultimately helped Meta develop what he termed the "copycat" Threads app.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-66129215

[Fan of Big Tone]

Haha, I could have predicted that would happen, it’s a good job they’ve both got deep pockets, the lawyers will be rubbing their grubby little hands together.

[Chris]

Code can be copyrighted.
Functionality and design are a bit more tricky, because the UI of Twitter isn't revolutionary. Most likely if Elon Musk is to gain a small victory here, most likely an agreement will be sorted outside of court.

I think Mark Zuckerberg could easily argue that Twitter rips off his intellectual property. Facebook was created in 2004.

Its concept is a larger scaled MySpace type site but had little closeness to that platform. Twitter, on the other hand, is a dumbed down Facebook. which was founded 2 years later. It takes elements from the Facebook UI, as if the inspiration was to make a lightweight version of the social media platform. Musk should be careful playing with fire, as he's still responsible for the creators of Twitter mistakes.

Either way, it's going to come across as a childish fight with both just wasting time.

[KB1862]

Had a feeling this would happen. Elon thought he could change so many things to twitter and get away with it because it's a platform that had no alternative but now all of a sudden meta come with threads, people start defecting and he's now realised he needs to act someway to get what he wants. 

[liampie]

its all really stupid, i am not sure what elon musk can do but he should focus on losing his existing user base by undoing much of his own damage.

[JohnTheBost]

It is basically Instagram and Twitter merged together, but It does look more like Twitter. All social media sites copy each other, so I don't know how far this would go. I would have called Treads, Trends with the tagline "Treads for Friends".

[JIMBO]

I can’t say I’m surprised. They look exactly the same, but I hope Treads gives Twitter a run for its money.

[cheeky~k8]

I think Elon Musk just thinks he can do what he wants and get away with it personally. He doesn't realise he doesn't own everything about twitter, as some stuff is universal and cannot be copyrighted haha.

I do not use twitter and don't plan on doing so either.

[upthepies]

I’m not surprised, but what happens may be dragged through the courts for many years. It could be settled out of court, but if I were Mark Zuckerberg, I would try to make it look fresher and more modern. Twitter has a simple design, and there are many ways it can be improved.

[Joshua]

I think I joined Twitter at the wrong time. At the moment, I just read. I don’t blame Elon Musk for taking action; Treads is a direct copy, but what will come of that, I don’t know.

[BromPie]

I don’t think suing them will stop Treads. It might make them compete harder and force better changes out of them. Elon Musk isn’t a very well-liked man at the moment.

[CliftonMagpie]

Elon Musk will just threaten Mark Zuckerberg. This could drag on for years, and they both just need to do their own thing in the meantime. I can’t see it being settled quickly.

[allardyces tash]

Is Elon Musk hoping the US court system will halt the progress of Threads, or just slow it down? My money’s on Mark Zuckerberg. Despite his flaws, he knows what he’s doing and will make Musk look desperate.