Twitpic photo-sharing service to shut down following trademark dispute with Twitter

In a new blog post, Noah Everett has announced the imminent demise of the service that he founded in 2008. According to him, the move comes as a result of a trademark dispute with none other than Twitter:

We originally filed for our trademark in 2009 and our first use in commerce dates back to February 2008 when we launched. We encountered several hurdles and difficulties in getting our trademark approved even though our first use in commerce predated other applications, but we worked through each challenge and in fact had just recently finished the last one. During the “published for opposition” phase of the trademark is when Twitter reached out to our counsel and implied we could be denied access to their API if we did not give up our mark.

Apparently, rather than just rebrand the service, Everett and company have decided to cease operating altogether.

In response to Twitpic’s decision, Twitter issued the following statement (via Re/code):

We’re sad to see Twitpic is shutting down. We encourage developers to build on top of the Twitter service, as Twitpic has done for years, and we made it clear that they could operate using the Twitpic name. Of course, we also have to protect our brand, and that includes trademarks tied to the brand.

Twitpic is scheduled to shut down on Thursday, Sept. 25. Its official iOS app is expected to be pulled from the App Store by then.

Before its termination, Twitpic will make an exporting tool available so that users can download their photos and videos from the service.

Fortunately, Twitpic users won’t be left without alternatives for uploading images to Twitter. Some of the most popular ones are Mobypicture, Yfrog, Img.ly, CloudApp, Droplr, and, of course, Twitter’s own image-sharing service.