My product is named Live Cams. It was first released as i-c-LiveCams in January but changed later that spring to be simply "Live Cams". After becoming a top 10 app in the US and Canada in June there was a deluge of app submissions that mysteriously contained the "Live Cams" keywords. The most notable was Mobiscope changing their app to "Mobiscope: Spy Live Cams".
I didn't have a problem with this because it was commonplace for people to use keywords to boost app sales at the time. I was flattered by the attempts to duplicate me so no biggie.
Things are different now. A quick search on Live Cams in the app store turns up a much more bold and nasty approach by some large organizations.
Several times between September and December 2009 I attempted to contact EarthCam to see if I could get permission to include some of their content in my application. I was willing to discuss profit sharing if necessary and shared my thoughts via email. No answers whatsoever, not even a polite "no thanks".
On December 23rd an application was released by EarthCam and it was named "Live Cams Free". To add to the attack, their product logo prominently contains the words "Live Cams" and a graphic image.
I ask you to boycott their free application or to at least write reviews that state their shameful use of my product name in their own. To think I was willing to work together with them!
I'd love to get your thoughts on this. It's really too bad because they have some of the best cameras in famous places and yet they take this approach to marketing themselves. Dispicable!
