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Facebook Files Suit Against Social Network Aggregator Power.com
January 2nd, 2009
| By Justin Smith | 8 Comments » |
Facebook has filed suit against social network aggregator Power.com for trademark infringement, copyright infringement, unlawful competition, violation of the CAN-SPAM Act, violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and other charges. Power.com is a service that offers users the ability to manage multiple social network, email, and IM accounts from one dashboard.
The suit, which was first uncovered by Claire Cain Miller, alleges that Power.com “is offering a product that solicits, stores and uses Facebook login information to access information stored on Facebook computers without authorization and to display Facebook copyrighted material without permission.”
According to the suit, Power.com also falsely signed emails it sent as “The Facebook Team” and as being sent through “facebookmail.com” during a promotion in which it was offering $100 to the person that invited the most new users to Power.com.
In the complaint, Facebook says it notified Power.com on December 1 that it was in violation of Facebook’s trademarks and terms. On December 12, Power.com’s CEO Steven Vachani told Facebook that Power.com would switch its implementation to Facebook Connect, Facebook’s new service for third party websites to access the Facebook Platform, within two weeks. When Power.com had not made the switch by December 26, Facebook blocked access to its service.
“After discussing the issues with Power.com for about a month without reaching a resolution, we filed a lawsuit to enforce our terms of service, maintain the integrity of our site, and to assure our users’ privacy and security are protected,” Facebook’s Barry Schnitt told Miller.
For now, Power.com’s website says “a new and improved version of Facebook inside of Power” is “coming soon.”
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January 3rd, 2009 at 12:56 pm
FB is aimed to become a champion regarding lawsuits! lol What is happening with the one against the German copy, Studviz??
July 10th, 2009 at 2:18 am
[...] network aggregator Power.com, which Facebook sued in January for the way it accessed and stored Facebook user data, has counter-sued Facebook for [...]
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:58 am
[...] without authorization and to display Facebook copyrighted material without permission.” Or so Facebook described Power.com’s actions in a lawsuit it filed against the company last [...]
December 28th, 2009 at 12:01 am
[...] their policies, some startups get locked out while big partners get exemptions. Power.com ended up in (and out of) court. Plaxo found out the hard way that they couldn’t assist their paying customers [...]
December 28th, 2009 at 3:56 am
[...] their policies, some startups get locked out while big partners get exemptions. Power.com ended up in (and out of) court. Plaxo found out the hard way that they couldn’t assist their paying customers [...]
December 28th, 2009 at 4:47 am
[...] their policies, some startups get locked out while big partners get exemptions. Power.com ended up in (and out of) court. Plaxo found out the hard way that they couldn’t assist their paying customers [...]
December 28th, 2009 at 5:27 am
[...] their policies, some startups get locked out while big partners get exemptions. Power.com ended up in (and out of) court. Plaxo found out the hard way that they couldn’t assist their paying customers [...]
January 17th, 2010 at 6:21 am
[...] ソーシャルネットワークは、この問題に関して、ユーザには何も決めさせなかった。方針の適用も恣意的なので、小さなスタートアップはそれを禁じられ、大企業のパートナーは見て見ぬ振りをしてもらえた。Power.comは法廷で終わり、そして法廷から放り出された。Plaxoは金を出す顧客がFacebookのメールアドレスをOCRしたり、LinkedInと同期化するのを助けられなくて苦労した。同社はLinkedInの厳格なToSについていろいろ言っているが、彼らに金を払う顧客すらそれを求めていたし、Comcastは彼らのAPIの登録ユーザにはならなかった。ユーザがLinkedInの自分のアドレス帳を手作業でダウンロードしても、そこには人びとの公開プロフィールページへのリンクはないのだ。 [...]