
Jobs to The Little App Factory: Name change “Not that big of a deal”  - zaveri
http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/11/19/apple-change-name/
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johndevor
We never debated Apple's right to defend their trademark, and it's pretty
obvious they have the high ground on that one.

What was frustrating to us was the sheer number of Apple employees who
recommended our product time and time again, with Apple management well aware
of our product and its name. With millions of downloads (many from Apple
employees), we're frustrated because Apple recommended and encouraged us and
then--six years later--decided it was time to litigate.

Again, I'm not saying we're right. Apple is completely in the right to defend
their mark, but I really don't think it it's in their best interest at all,
and if we posed any serious threat, they would have taken action a long time
ago.

* Edit: Sorry if this post is sloppy. I haven't slept in a while.

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city41
They have to protect their trademark, that's pretty much a given. But also,
why take your case to Steve Jobs? He's not exactly known for being a "nice
guy", his response is exactly what I would have expected from him.

Sorry you guys have to go through this, but in the long run I doubt you'll see
(too) much pain from this. Good luck.

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utexaspunk
It sounds to me almost as though you're supposed to feel so cool about getting
such an informal e-mail from Steve personally that you just happily do what he
wants. The guy's full of himself.

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cmac
That's a lot of meaning to read into 10 words.

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zaidf
If I was Jobs and this is all I had to say, I probably wouldn't have replied
to this email. It makes him come across as kinda noncaring _especially_ with
all of Apple's troubles with app developers.

If he really had to reply, he could've gone with "Not that big of a deal.
Check your mail" and sent a cool Apple product for being a great developer.
Lacking this, his reply comes across as cold to a genuine concerned developer.

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gcheong
Maybe, and I'm probably giving Jobs more credit than he deserves, but it could
just be Jobs' way of saying - "Calm down dude, just change the name and chill
out!". In other words, what looks like a major catastrophe to someone who
hasn't faced this situation before is probably pretty minor in reality and
replying in such a fashion puts the problem in its proper perspective.

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steveklabnik
They have to protect their trademark, or lose it. Chalk this one up to another
casualty of intellectual property law.

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notauser
They could have protected it by offering a royalty free license for a specific
use.

I'm no fan of IP law but too often companies hide behind the law when the
actual root cause is themselves.

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xal
No. Someone may produce this as prior art and demand a royalty free licence
for another product at some other time. It's much easier to simply send C&D.

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culturestate
This isn't actually an uncommon practice for large corporations - the outside
law firms charged with protecting IP and trademarks do so vigorously, and in
many cases, autonomously. I don't think 'surprised' is the word, but I'd
be...startled if anyone at Apple (with possible exception of Counsel) actually
saw this letter before it went out.

As to SJ's reply, well, he's the CEO of a multi-billion dollar corporation. He
said what was on his mind and dealt with the issue quickly and decisively -
who are we to fault that? (Tangential remark: as a bunch of startup
founders/partners/employees, we've created a culture amongst ourselves of
"corporate friendliness" - long, well-thought out letters from the execs about
every little issue and ubertransparency through blog posts - and we build it
into business practices, because that's what we think we need to compete. I'd
like to see us all 20 years and a few billion dollars in revenue later - who
really thinks they'll be acting much different than SJ at that point?)

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anigbrowl
Christ, what an asshole. Would it really have been that difficult to sit down
at a keyboard and reply in the form 'Dear Mr Devor, [thank you for your
letter] [here are the reasons for our trademark policy] [possible compromise]
Sincerely, Steve Jobs'.

Don't want to to do it? Send it back to the legal department, who will at
least address the guy like a human being. If they had told him back in 2003
that they felt he was infringing on their mark, that'd be one thing. But to
passively acquiesce for 6 years and then pull th rug out from under him smacks
of incompetence, and a one-line dismissal of a sincere attempt at compromise
is just arrogant.

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bmalicoat
I love that Jobs uses the "Sent from my iPhone" signature after all this time.
So unnecessary.

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ian00
jobs = asshole

