Re:Mastodon Is Better Than Twitter: Elevator Pitch
by bitbckt on Saturday August 18, 2018 @04:40PM
(#17790532)
Using “tweet” infringes on Twitter’s trademark.
(IANAL, but former tweep)
Re:Mastodon Is Better Than Twitter: Elevator Pitch
by zimpenfish on Sunday August 19, 2018 @02:42AM
(#17792941)
You'd have to think that the trademark would be sufficiently diluted by common usage by now that it was heading rapidly towards invalidation (cf hoover, xerox, etc.)
Re:Mastodon Is Better Than Twitter: Elevator Pitch
by zrobotics on Sunday August 19, 2018 @06:47PM
(#17796620)
You go ahead and start selling copiers branded Xerox and tell us how diluted that trademark is. It may be a common term, same as 'googling', but the test here is whether the company is willing to actively defend the trademark. I can assure you that all of the companies you mentioned would certainly have lawyers ready to prove they hold a valid trademark.
Feeds. Creators collect and filter on subject, importance and volume. Follow a Feed instead of a person.
Locality. Connect people in an area, like Facebook starting in schools. Use age and membership (church, work, school) for getting people onto a server where they know people.
Events and Calendar. Instead of posts with date/time information, make a different type. Let people view aggregated calendars with multiple filters, and make Feeds for calendars.
Private chat groups with their own invite and moderation choices. Put keys on mobile devices so the server doesn't know; can't be available on a website client.
Minor suggestions: Make moving accounts dead simple, and with that, have a global registry/dns for names. Change the name "toot"; isn't "tweet" generic at this point? A tagline of "blow your horn" with a mastadon tusk as the horn.