We’re not IP lawyers by a long shot, but we know when a company appears to be making a spurious claim. Such is the case with the French site Weave.eu, who have filed a complaint against the developers behind Weave News Reader on Windows Phone.
The claim looks to be IP trolling for a few reasons, including the fact that the French site isn’t a news, or a news aggregator that uses RSS technology. What’s more, their "community trademark" was established in 2012, which is about two years after Weave hit Windows Phone way back in 2010.
The company appears to have several trademarks on ‘WEAVE’ but they do not leverage them as actual products, products which could be confused with Weave News Reader on Windows Phone. That’s sort of the definition of patent troll, and Seles Games believes they may be acting on behalf of RSS competitors that originate in France.
Regardless of the logic and seemingly nonsensical claim, Microsoft has informed Seles Games, who are behind Weave News Reader, to “fix” their app ASAP or risk having it delisted from the Store with 24-hours. So far, Microsoft has been reluctant to get in the middle of the dispute, and instead are just going through the motions, assuming that the complaint is legit.
Like we said, we’re not IP lawyers, but the claim looks to be specious from our perspective. Hopefully all the parties can come to an agreement, or at the very least, Microsoft won’t fold on this without good reason. But if Weave News Reader suddenly disappears from the Store, you’ll know why.
You can follow Seles Games on Twitter, where they’re trying to raise support at @SelesGames or by tweeting @microsoft and @windowsphone. Download their apps (while you can) below:
- Weave (free/ads) – Windows Phone Store
- Weave ($9.99/no-ads) – Windows Phone Store
- Weave (Windows 8/free) –Windows Store
