June 2nd, 2012

The Other Side Of The Story: WhosHere vs. Who’s Near Me Live

court_house=

You guys may remember a post on TechCrunch yesterday about a trademark spat between an entrepreneur named Brian Hamachek, who built an app called Who’s Near Me Live, and a Lightbank-backed startup called myRete, who built an app called WhosHere, strikingly similar in both functionality and name. The story unfolded that Hamachek had been bullied by WhosHere in the legal realm, despite the fact that… → Read More

June 1st, 2012

Startups Vs. Startups: App Developer Gets Sued By Lightbank-Backed WhosHere

the_simpsons.10x02.the_wizard_of_evergreen_terrace

So here’s a story that hopefully will be an eye-opener for entrepreneurs and startups, while providing a painful peek into trademark harassment and the importance of due diligence. It goes a little something like this: About two years ago, software engineer Brian Hamachek decided to build an app first on Windows Mobile (how some horror stories have been known to begin), then on Windows Phone, that… → Read More