One of the biggest threats to a really good idea is copycats. Those people who want to freeload on your awesome idea without the painstaking journey of brainstorming and working hard to bring a great idea into a great product. Such is the case between WhatsApp and GBWhatsApp.
The former was, of course, a great idea, and you don’t need much evidence other than the fact it was bought by social media giant Facebook. It also has over a billion users worldwide.
Now back to the copycats! Perhaps you have heard of GBWhatsApp, a fork of the real WhatsApp app that comes with additional features not available on the original app. For instance, it enables you to disable read receipt in such a way that you get to see when your messages are received, but the other person will never get to see that you received their messages.
The same thing applies to last seen, and who viewed Statuses update. Other people will not get to know you viewed their status or see when you were last online, but you get to know that information about them.
I guess WhatsApp could easily introduce these features to its platform, but then it will quickly be an unbalanced playing field, and sooner rather than later people in their masses will look for alternatives. GBWhatsApp can get away with it because they are an imitation in the first place.
GBWhatsApp is not the only fork of WhatsApp out there, but it is certainly one of the most popular ones. It now appears WhatsApp is going to do something about these imitations that are eating off its bill without any permission.
Users using GBWhatsApp have been barred from accessing the social network albeit temporarily. Once blocked, you get a notice reading: “You’re temporarily banned from WhatsApp because you may have violated our terms of service.”
Banned in YoWa @WABetaInfo pic.twitter.com/sjw2W5QzQv
— Hari Mohan (@Harkita04) April 30, 2019
Hey @WABetaInfo ,
WhatsApp now banning GBWhatsapp temporarily…
And warning ! pic.twitter.com/iuWDrAhl9W— Anand smart (@Anandaji128) April 30, 2019
That message was then followed up by a timer, displaying how long your ban from WhatsApp will last.
So what’s this WhatsApp’s Term of Service that has been violated by GBWhatsApp users? Well, according to its Terms of Service page, WhatsApp writes in part:
“We own copyrights, trademarks, domains, logos, trade dress, trade secrets, patents, and other intellectual property rights associated with our Services. You may not use our copyrights, trademarks, domains, logos, trade dress, patents, and other intellectual property rights unless you have our express permission and except in accordance with our Brand Guidelines.”
So like said before, the developers of GBWhatsApp are freeloading on the name, logo, and other copyrights of WhatsApp.
Ohh, and below is some interesting new development on WhatsApp you should know.
2014: WhatsApp will remain autonomous and operate INDEPENDENTLY.
2019: the company plans to merge together three of its massive messaging apps — Messenger, Instagram and WHATSAPP — into one service. pic.twitter.com/FV168CZZkn
— WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) May 3, 2019