Evite threatens to sue Socializr for copyright infringement
Ticketmaster, owner of the popular invitation service Evite, has threatened to sue Socializr for copyright infringement, saying the company’s service looks strikingly and confusingly similar to Evite’s.
In a letter sent April 3, Ticketmaster’s law firm, Quinn Emanuel, said two invitation design templates offered by San Francisco start-up Socializr were exact copies of Evite’s, and another design is very similar. See letter here. The letter also said Socializr’s invitation event creation page, design galleries and guest list options menu were all strikingly and confusingly similar in format, layout and features to Evite’s pages, and demanded they be taken down.
Socializer seems to have pulled down the two exact template copies — the “Holiday” and “Hawaii Luau” designs — but has left up its “Winter Celebration” template (left in image), which looks similar to Evite’s “Winter Hues” (right in image). Quinn Emanuel lawyer Michael Carlinsky said Socializr’s response has not been enough to resolve the issue, even though Socializr has agreed to make certain changes. “Other issues are still being examined,” he said, saying the complaint is about more than specific templates. Socializr has not yet responded to a request for comment.
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About the Author, Matt Marshall
Matt launched VentureBeat in September of 2006, with the realization that no one else was covering the entrepreneurial and tech innovation scene with the velocity or depth that he was. Prior to founding VentureBeat, he covered venture capital for the San Jose Mercury News from 2001 to 2006. In 2002, Matt was awarded "Journalist of the Year" by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists. Prior to working at the Merc, he was a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Bonn, Germany from 1995 to 1998, and a writer for the Washington Post in 1994. Matt holds a PhD in Government and an MA in German and European Studies from Georgetown University. In addition to VentureBeat, Matt is also the Executive Producer of DEMO, the leading launchpad event for emerging technologies.
