3 ms·
Really? It's bad enough when common words get trademarked, but they didn't even call themselves "Southwest Monkey". They called it "SWMonkey". Without extra co
by romwell 9y ago
Really? It's bad enough when common words get trademarked, but they didn't even call themselves "Southwest Monkey". They called it "SWMonkey".
Without extra context (knowing what the website is for by reading the description), I'd have no clue that "swmonkey" has anything to do with airlines.
Anyhow, that's a separate issue. Southwest was clearly less concerned about trademark infringement than they were with the business model. The contents of the email clearly indicate that they want to disallow scraping with their ToS, and want to enforce that.
- ars 9y ago> but they didn't even call themselves "Southwest Monkey". Yes they did, and I quote their FAQ: "How long does Southwest Monkey track flights?" > They called it "SWMonkey". I think they changed their name after the letters (and presumably forgot to change it there).
- romwell 9y agoOopsie then, "Southwest Monkey" does look like a trademark issue on top of the scraping issue. Certainly doesn't help. That said, the guy with the skiplagged website (same idea: use publicly available flight pricing to produce tickets that the airlines see as undesirable) prevailed against the pressure from the airlines, so the situation doesn't look too bleak.