Yesterday, the founder of popular screen-sharing app Mikogo shared with the world that he was threatened to be sued by the city of Mannheim if he does not stop using his twitter name, which is http://twitter.com/mannheim. His name is Mark Zondler, but he and the company is based in Mannheim. Does any of you think this is pretty unfair from the city?
First of all, what if your name was Daniel Mannheim? Could they sue you for using your own name? Also, the Twitter account is not abused, or used in any way to undermine the city, and even if it were, we have freedom of speech, so still!
Second of all, if they actually win this, imagine the barrage of lawsuits against people who have legally and properly registered a cool name. Could my brother (Martin) sue the founder of this blog if he used “Martin” as a username on Twitter? Would there be a lawsuit with 20,000 people in a deathmatch, everyone against everyone? I’m sure the lawyers would have fun.In addition, this would spread to Facebook, Google accounts, Yahoo accounts, and the rest of the world, taking down more than a few genuinely great twitterers and bloggers.
Personally, I think the city just wants the name, and tried a threat in the hope that it will work. I don’t think they stand any chance of winning this, so they will probably back down if Mark Zondler refuses to let go of his name. What do you guys think, who is right here, will there be a lawsuit, and if so, who stands to win and why? Get your legal hats and start commenting!
