Image sharing company Twitpic, one of the first applications that allowed sharing pictures on Twitter back in the site's infant days, is shutting down. The company is claiming that Twitter is pushing them out.
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"A few weeks ago Twitter contacted our legal demanding that we abandon our trademark application or risk losing access to their API," according to a post published on Twitpic's blog. "This came as a shock to us since Twitpic has been around since early 2008, and our trademark application has been in the USPTO since 2009."
Twitpic claims it has always been on good terms with Twitter, and were key in helping the social media outlet gain publicity. The threat from Twitter, then, came as a huge surprise to the company.
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"Unfortunately we do not have the resources to fend off a large company like Twitter to maintain our mark which we believe whole heartedly is rightfully ours," the team continues. "Therefore, we have decided to shut down Twitpic."
Twitter released their own native photo-sharing feature in 2011, essentially competing with third party apps like Twitpic, which is probably where the relationship soured.
"We're sad to see Twitpic is shutting down," a Twitter rep told Mashable in a statement, but claimed that the site was concerned with protecting its brand, even against old allies.
