Recently, Meta launched Threads, a Twitter-like app on Thursday to compete with Twitter, which according to Zuckerberg, is very open and friendly public space for conversation which takes “the best parts of Instagram and create a new experience for texts, ideas and discussing what’s on your mind”.
The Twitter Boss, Elon Musk has frowned on Meta Boss while putting across a letter of accusation to Meta for stealing his trade mark (Threads) through his former employees.
From the viral letter to Meta, Twitter threatens to sue Meta Boss, Mark Zuckerberg over the launch of “Threads,” Musk frowns at Meta seeing his act as not just for competition but mere cheating.
Musk (Twitter Boss) however in his letter addressed to Zuckerberg, claiming that Meta had over the past year hired dozens of former Twitter employees with an access to Twitter’s trade secrets and other highly confidential information.
Twitter therefore maintained that, Meta’s act violates both state and federal law as well as those employees’ ongoing obligations to Twitter. The company added it would strictly enforce its intellectual property rights, and demands that Meta take immediate steps to stop using any Twitter trade secrets or other highly confidential information.
…See letter addressed to Meta founder, Zuckerberg by Twitter’s legal representative, Alex Spiro;
It reads, “I write on behalf of X Corp., as successor in interest to Twitter, Inc. (Twitter). Based on recent reports regarding your recently launched Threads” app, Twitter has serious concerns that Meta Platforms (“Meta’”) has engaged in systematic, willful, and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property.
“Over the past year, Meta has hired dozens of former Twitter employees. Twitter knows that these employees previously worked at Twitter; that these employees had and continue to have access to Twitter’s trade secrets and other highly confidential information; that these employees owe ongoing obligations to Twitter; and that many of these employees have improperly retained Twitter documents and electronic devices.
With that knowledge, Meta deliberately assigned these employees to develop, in a matter of months, Meta’s copycat “Threads” app with the specific intent that they use Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property in order to accelerate the development of Meta’s competing app, in violation of both state and federal law as well as those employees’ ongoing obligations to Twitter.
“Twitter intends to strictly enforce its intellectual property rights and demands that Meta take immediate steps to stop using any Twitter trade secrets or other highly confidential information. Twitter reserves all rights, including, but not limited to, the right to seek both civil remedies and injunctive relief without further notice to prevent any further retention, disclosure, or use of its intellectual property by Meta.”
Twitter said Meta is expressly prohibited from engaging in any crawling or scraping of Twitter’s followers or following data.
“Please consider this letter a formal notice that Meta must preserve any documents that could be relevant to a dispute between Twitter, Meta, and/or former Twitter employees who now work for that includes but is not limited to, all documents related to the recruitment, hiring, and onboarding of these former Twitter employees, the development of Meta’s competing Threads app, and any communications between these former Twitter employees and any agent, representative, or employee or Meta.”