Twitpic Shutting Down Over Trademark Spat With Twitter

While Twitter has allowed users to upload photos directly to their feeds for quite some time, some users still prefer Twitpic for hosting and sharing their images. But Twitter apparently has an issue with the “Twit” part of Twitpic’s name, so the service will soon cease operations instead of getting caught up in a drawn-out legal fight over a name.

In its announcement about the shutdown, Twitpic said that it recently received a demand from Twitter that it abandon its 5-year-old trademark application for the Twitpic name, which it’s actually been using since 2008.

If Twitpic didn’t abandon the application, Twitter would pull the service’s access to the Twitter API. So Twitpic could either give up its claim to the Twitpic name, throwing away a half-decade of brand identity, or it could lose access to Twitter, taking away a good chunk of the service’s reason for existing in the first place.

“Unfortunately we do not have the resources to fend off a large company like Twitter to maintain our mark which we believe whole heartedly is rightfully ours,” writes the company. “Therefore, we have decided to shut down Twitpic.”

As of now, Twitpic plans to close up shop on Sept. 25. It says that users will be able to export all their photos and videos but has not yet provided details on exactly how to do this.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist