Coke accidentally created an ad for our app. What should we do?
Then, this afternoon, I started getting a flood of emails, all about the Like-o-Meter. Some said that they loved the app. Some were trying to make ambiguous business deals with me. I went to our app's Facebook Wall, and found a huge number of positive messages, all from people in Egypt.
There was no obvious reason for this sudden popularity. So I Googled. This came up: http://thenextweb.com/me/2011/06/13/did-coca-cola-just-create-an-ad-campaign-for-facebook/
Apparently Coca Cola is airing an ad in Egypt. The ad mentions the "Coca Cola Like-o-Meter" - a Facebook app of some sort. Their ad didn't display a URL, so people are finding mine. And using it. And, apparently, liking it. It seems to be spreading virally beyond people who saw the ad.
Has anything ever happened like this before?
And does anyone speak Arabic? What does the ad say about the Like-o-Meter? It's not a pro-Mubarak ad, is it?
UPDATE: apparently the entire concept of their app is a direct rip-off of mine, not just the name. I guess that makes the legal issues more interesting?
13 comments
[ 4.6 ms ] story [ 35.1 ms ] threadIn all seriousness, they probably didn't know they were doing it. If I were you I'd call a trademark/patent lawyer yesterday and see if you can register, given that you can show prior use. Coca-Cola is notorious as one of the absolute most-vicious companies on the planet when it comes to both registering and protecting their marks; there's a high probability they already registered Like-o-Meter, and will attack you as soon as they hear about yours.
This boost, on the whole, may not be a good thing; find a lawyer who's willing to assume an offensive posture if you want to hold onto your app. And good luck =)
Also, it turns out that the entire idea of their app was the same as ours. They had to be aware of us. Same name. Same app.
It sounds like they're describing the concept in the same way that we do.
Shame that they're squeezing their branding into the revolution. Glad it was just one shot of that.
It might. Don't go on a spending spree yet. Let a competent lawyer look it over. My guess at a glance -- and I'm not a lawyer, just stewed in IP issues -- would be you'll have a hard time getting anything out of their theft of your concept, short of owning a patent. Copyright could give you some relief if they directly ripped your code off and you can prove they decompiled and/or used something from that. Your best bet again is probably trademark infringement against your mark which had prior use. (That also depends on if Facebook themselves haven't trademarked the word "Like" the way they've trademarked "Book".)
Other than a lawyer, your only bet is to raise an unholy racket here and in the blogosphere and make sure everyone knows you did it first. Which I fully support.