[Follow-Up] HTC Issues Statement Regarding Recent Action Against Developer Community

[dgstorm]

Just a couple of days ago, we shared an HTC PR blunder that rippled throughout the Android community. The company targeted a developer fansite called HTCUU.com for copyright violations and illegal file sharing. Since then, they must have felt the backlash from the community because they just issued a statement trying to offer their side of the story. Here it is in it's entirety,

Continued Support for the Developer Community

POSTED 30 JAN 2013 | BY LEIGH MOMII

Last week, there was some buzz about a website that contained RUUs for HTC devices being taken down at the request of HTC. We’d like to take a minute to provide some background.

The issue with the site in question was NOT that it provided custom ROMs or RUUs. The site used HTC trademarks without a license from HTC. The domain name contained ‘HTC’ and it used HTC logos, making it appear to be an official HTC website. Like any other company, we must protect our trademarks and brand. We cannot risk being associated with, and held liable for, software that we don’t have any control over that’s put onto an HTC device through a third party.

HTC openly embraces the community that chooses to flash custom ROMs onto their devices. The HTC Unlock Bootloader tool on htcdev.com evidences this support. We think the custom ROM community is valuable to the overall health of the Android ecosystem, and we have no intention of abandoning them. We love the passion of this community, and we hope you continue to build with us, use HTC products, and give us honest and direct feedback.

While it's pretty easy to see their point-of-view, and it's not hard to respect their desire to protect their trademarks, we still wonder if they could have handled the situation a bit differently. Perhaps they could have given the developer a chance to clean up the problem software, and/or to simply change the logos and domain name of the site to something less confusing. Of course, it is a thin legal line they walk, and they need to be very careful lest they become open to litigation based upon something outside of their control. We acknowledge that based upon their actions in the past, they try their best to support the developer community. Their htcdev.com Bootloader Unlock tool at the very least confirms this.

What do you think? Is this enough justification for what transpired, or do we deserve a bit more explanation than this?

Source: HTC Blog

 

[pc747]

Could be legit. I think they should have just told them to change their name and logo, but there are 2 sides to every coin and I do see the point htc is coming from.

 

[MissionImprobable]

There are three sides to every story so odds are we'll never get the entire truth, but HTC definitely could have handled things better.

 

[dfcfu342]

Perhaps they tried to work with the site owner and he refused to cooperate so they took down the site. They were fully in their right to do so with the site's use of trademarks.

 

[liftedplane]

Perhaps they tried to work with the site owner and he refused to cooperate so they took down the site. They were fully in their right to do so with the site's use of trademarks.

howver they can't say htcruu is breaking trademark...

checkout nissan.com nissan usa has tried fighting for that domain name for years

 

[LoneWolfArcher]

This is BOLOGNA. Trademark issues aren't used to shut a site down. Simple changes to the site could of mitigated those issues. HTC used the licensing of trademark issues as an excuse to shut this site down.

I will not buy an HTC device until I feel they've taken proper action to rectify this. This would be akin to Verizon shutting down this site because it used "droid" in the url. Stupid.

 

[akhenax]

This is BOLOGNA. Trademark issues aren't used to shut a site down. Simple changes to the site could of mitigated those issues. HTC used the licensing of trademark issues as an excuse to shut this site down.

I will not buy an HTC device until I feel they've taken proper action to rectify this. This would be akin to Verizon shutting down this site because it used "droid" in the url. Stupid.

Please don't give 'em no ideas. :biggrin:

And on a separate note, I've always taken issue with the spelling of bologna, and will create a petition to remove the "a" and replace it with a "y" or "i".
WHO'S WITH ME???

 

[LoneWolfArcher]

please don't give 'em no ideas. :biggrin:

And on a separate note, i've always taken issue with the spelling of bologna, and will create a petition to remove the "a" and replace it with a "y" or "i".
Who's with me??? :d

lol +1

 

[acousticshade]

Isn't bologna a city in France?

Archer, are you basing your anti-htc sentiment on guesswork or actual facts?