| Title | Uber Shuts Down App that Told Drivers if Uber Underpaid Them | |
| Date | Friday February 19 2021, @09:05AM | |
| Author | martyb | |
| Topic | ||
| from the get-a-lawyer..and-popcorn dept. | ||
Uber Shuts Down App That Told Drivers If Uber Underpaid Them:
The creator of the Chrome extension 'UberCheats' Armin Samii said Uber claimed it violated its trademark. "Uber filed a false trademark claim against UberCheats, so it's been taken off the Chrome app store," he said on Twitter. "They claim that people might confuse it for an actual Uber product."
UberCheats was a Chrome extension that helped drivers figure out if they'd been underpaid by for Uber.
[...] Samii's app helped keep Uber accountable, kept drivers informed, and was incredibly simple. "Sometimes Uber calculates the distance from point A to point B incorrectly," he told Motherboard in an email. "My guess is that they use the 'straight line' distance rather than the actual distance traveled. In my area, that has led to a '6 minute trip' taking 50 minutes, since they thought I could...fly, I guess? Technically, the app is quite simple. It looks at the start/end destination of the trip, plugs it into google maps, and checks to see if the distance you were paid for matches the distance Google says."
[...] Samii launched his Chrome extension in August 2020 and hadn't had any problems keeping it online until now.
[...] In the email Samii showed Motherboard, Google forwarded the original complaint it received from Uber. "The application uses, without authorization, the mark Uber, a trademark owned and controlled by Uber Technologies, Inc. Any use by the application of the Infringing Marks constitutes a trademark infringement under Section 32 of the Lanham Act," it said.
[...] UberCheats could relaunch with a new name and continue just fine, but Samii said he won't do that. "I plan to fight this," he said. "I will not be bullied by corporate lawyers trying to scare the little guy. I am in the right, and they know it. I have appealed it with both Google and Uber."
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printed from SoylentNews, Uber Shuts Down App that Told Drivers if Uber Underpaid Them on 2024-04-19 15:53:23