Did Google Steal Sidewiki From a Startup?
Web annotation is a sexy and increasingly crowded space in the market. As in any such pool, the amount of elbow-rubbing between individuals and similarity between products can lead to suspicion of theft.
Annotation startup Reframe It, a 14-person team, claims that Google's hot new product Sidewiki crosses the line between competitive innovation and IP infringement. And with a few Googlers caught with their hands in Reframe It's cookie jar, there might be some validity to this claim.
We first came across Reframe It about a year ago when it first launched. The company's product allowed users to "basically write comments into the margins of the Internet" and was in heavy competition with services such as Diigo and SocialBrowse. When Reframe It added Twitter and Facebook integration and received an official nod from Mozilla this past spring, Diigo remained as a serious competitor, but Reframe It had the further advantage of a stellar advisory board.
Fast-forwarding to this fall, Google launched Sidewiki in September, almost a full year after the debut of Reframe It. Looking at these demo videos back-to-back, the similarities are obvious:
For an in-depth side-by-side comparison of both apps, see Google Watch's post on the subject. The basic conclusion is that the products look similar enough that Google's source code had better be drastically different from Reframe It's if they are to avoid a major lawsuit.
But if we had a nickel for every time we spotted disgraceful similarities between web products, we'd be... Well, never mind what we'd be doing with that stack o' nickels. Here's the interesting part: Reframe It CEO Bobby Fishkin, who claims his company has neither the time nor the resources to take on tech behemoth and pop culture darling Google, told eWEEK that there were several attempts to learn and assimilate his startup's technology and interface, right down to the icon designs.
According to eWEEK, Fishkin claims that one of his board members, Terry Winograd, sat in on a Google meeting in July 2008 and told a top Google exec to take a look at Reframe It. The as-yet unnamed Googler said the startup looked interesting and that the info would be passed along.
In the months that followed, at least six Reframe It accounts were registered to Google employees, which would allow engineers "plenty of time to explore every nook and cranny of our functionality," said Fishkin.
But the real kicker is Google's alleged attempt to hire Reframe It co-founder and lead engineer Ben Taitelbaum just days before Sidewiki launched.
And what was the official Google response to these reports?
"The variety of existing products in this space and the increasing number of sites that enable user generated content shows that there is growing demand for allowing users to contribute to the Web," a Google rep wrote to eWEEK in a measured but definite dismissal of Reframe It's claims.
Certainly, Google has been talking and thinking about annotation for years. And its end product has many differences from others on the market. And the market has a few notable competitors aside from Reframe It, all of which Google probably explored in due diligence processes. But if and when these two products face off in court, attorneys will be arguing whether the Google product - which, if only because it came after Reframe It's version, is without question a knockoff - is in actual violation of Reframe It's patents. And since Reframe It's patent application is still pending, they can amend the language to include Sidewiki's UX, technology, etc.
The situation is, indeed, fraught with run-of-the-mill, workaday, tech IP drama. And we look forward to following up on these reports accordingly.
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this is such a non story..
facebook copied twitter, facebook copied myspace, myspace copied friendster, google copied altavista. The only reason they are claiming this now is to get some free publicity. What they should of come out with , is a press release that says how they intend to compete with sidewiki, and what new features they plan to use, rather than they plan on suing if they get the patent.
So much for "Don't Be Evil"! Meh.
Methinks it is, alas, just business as usual in the high-stakes world of conquering the Internet universe....
Yesterday I was watching Flash of a Genius...the same story, 60 years ago...maybe google is the new ford...
This idea isn't new. I found the Google Web Comments to be more useful than either of these tools because Sidewiki and ReframeIt both require the installation of 'toolbars', rather than bookmarklets, or, at the most, Firefox extensions. Both are doomed to be taken over by something more open, perhaps based on Google Wave or an even more open-standard equivalent.
Posted by: jadon.myopenid.com
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November 9, 2009 5:32 AM
The answer is a usual yes. Startups are great at getting their ideas stolen because they do not have the promotional channel to push for their innovative products. When the innovation cannot be protected through IP protection tactics (patents, copyright, industrial secret), they might have hard time competing against a giant who decides to imitate the startup-innovator.
I agree with Ahmad above. Although extremely unfortunate, I don't see Reframe It coming out on top.
Frameit isn't the first sevice to add comments to everypage. That happened years ago, and it didn't catch on.
Meh. I had an almost identical idea five years ago, and the execution would have been identical to ReframeIt's app based on how I spec'd it out. At the time, web/browser technology wasn't really up to speed with the sophistication of the idea (this was in the IE6/FF1 days), and I long ago forgot about it in favor of other things. But if I could come up with the identical concept and execution without stealing anyone else's ideas, I'm pretty sure Google could have done the same.
Honestly, based on the video, ReframeIt's product seems much more sophisticated than Google's. The similarity seems to be relatively superficial to me.
Reframeit - come on! That application really sucks and pratically no one is using it! Just look at Google trend / Compete for stats.
IP fight with Google? This sounds more like a desparate PR stunt before the company dies off completely.
ha ha... I think icomment.com was there long before reframe it. And they say patent pending.
I saved this press release when I saw it way back in 2008. When did reframeit launch?
http://www.prlog.org/10126503-icomment-active-users-top-quarter-million-as-new-technology-takes-the-internet-by-storm.html
google has track record of such infringements..like in starting it did with overture..but its a rule of society..the bigger always wins...
yeah i remember overture. here google goes again. i recall hearing about icomment back when it was called wikibar.com. i could be wrong but seems to me it was maybe 5 years ago. sad that companies like google can walk on the little guys. doesn't seem right to me. because they can doesn't mean its right.