In a letter addressed to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter has alleged that the social media giant infringed upon its intellectual property rights by creating a similar application, Threads. The letter, penned by Alex Spiro, an attorney representing Twitter, accused Meta of illegally using Twitter’s trade secrets, attributing this to Meta’s hiring of former Twitter employees to develop Threads. The newly-launched Threads app, developed by Meta’s Instagram team, has attracted tens of millions of sign-ups since its launch, providing an alternative to Twitter amid ongoing dissatisfaction with the platform’s management under Elon Musk.
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone denied the allegations by stating, “No one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee.” However, in the letter first reported by Semafor, Spiro noted that Twitter “intends to strictly enforce its intellectual property rights”, suggesting the company may pursue civil remedies or injunctive relief against Meta. He further requested Meta to preserve relevant documents for a potential legal dispute.
While Twitter’s response to a request for comment was its standard automated emoji, industry analysts predict that Meta’s new app could pose a serious challenge for Twitter given the buzz and the substantial download numbers following its launch. Still, the app’s success is not guaranteed, considering Meta’s history of discontinuing standalone apps. Threads also sparked data privacy concerns, as it’s not available in the European Union, known for its stringent data privacy regulations.
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