The Dutch navigation-system manufacturer TomTom has threatened to file suit against the software developer equinux should they fail to make the wanted changes in the sales and marketing of TamTam. equinux introduced “TamTam for Mac OS X” in 2004. With this introduction, equinux had made the (up to then) only all-in-one navigation unit from TomTom accessible to Mac users. With TamTam, Mac users were finally able to load maps, voices, firmware updates as well as perform backups for their TomTom GO.
TomTom brought forth numerous complaints, including that equinux must should give up and cease to use the “TamTam” name. equinux must also commit to no longer using the program icon of TamTam; TomTom feels that there is a danger of mistaking Tam Tam’s feet logo with TomTom’s hand logo. Lastly, equinux is no longer allowed to use the term “TomTom”. The resulting effects of this complaint is essentially a sales-ban for TamTam.
“Legally, we are not overly concerned about TomTom’s threats. Nevertheless, we have decided to remove TamTam from the market, meaning we will no longer promote TomTom products,” says Till Schadde, CEO of equinux.
Effective immediately, equinux is halting the sale of TamTam.
“TomTom is that typical hardware manufacturer that first ignores the Mac market, leaving others to pave the way and make their devices Mac compatible. Once the market has matured, they then take-over via arbitrary threats against those who provided the initial Mac-based solutions,” says Till Schadde.
equinux, located in United States and Germany, is a developer of Mac applications for professionals and consumers. Market-leading VPN Tracker is specifically designed for Mac users on-the-go, wanting a secure remote connection to their office network. iSale, the Apple Design Award winning and eBay certified user-friendly application allows users to easily sell products on eBay.
For more information about equinux please visit http://www.equinux.com/
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This hurts my tum tum
This is not about TomTom taking over the Mac market or something… it’s about trademarks, and TamTam treading on them.
Don’t be mad at TomTom, be mad at TamTam for taking their ball and going home, instead of just being mature and changing the name and packaging.
Yeah, that costs something, but it’s not like TamTam wouldn’t have seen it coming. They took their chances, playing off of TomTom’s success, and crowded too close to TomTom’s trademarks. They got busted. Who knows HOW many warnings they got. We only know one side of this.
Thanks for the Mac software, TamTam, but how about slapping a new sticker on the boxes and continuing to sell it? Hmmm… I bet the WILL. They’ll “pull” the software then “introduce” a new name. Free publicity! Hey, whatever works to sell Mac apps I guess.
And yeah I wish TomTom made their own Mac software, but if they think it’s not worth their development dollars that doesn’t make them a villain, just mistaken at worst.
Well it looks like TomTom has lost a potential customer in me for; 1) threatening a Mac developer and 2) for purposely not offering its products and services for Mac users!
It sounds like a case of cutting off the hands to spite the feet.
“And yeah I wish TomTom made their own Mac software, but if they think it’s not worth their development dollars that doesn’t make them a villain, just mistaken at worst.”
I’m not quick to support TamTam, but neither am I as quick as you to exonerate TomTom. One reason to market TamTam they way they did was so-as to make sure that the buying public realizes that this is software that enables Macs to interface with TomTom. If the name were utterly different it would be more difficult to make the connection between the two. TomTom should, frankly, be happy that someone has picked up their fumble and completed the play to enable them to sell to their hardware to the growing Mac Market TOO.
If they didn’t think it was worth their development dollars, why did they think it was worth their LEGAL dollars to risk legal suits? HOW was the sale of TamTam harming their company, or their product TomTom? It was doing neither. Quite the contrary, it was helping the sale of TomTom. Is TomTom a villain in this? No … they’re just a selfish bunch of Dutch boys and girls who, it would appear, don’t want their product to interface with the Mac.
Good point there; why not go all the way and suggest some new names like … like … hmm … Navatam? Take two a day and the fever should go away.
> If the name were utterly different it would be more difficult to make the connection between the two.
This is an ancient situation, happens all the time. Look at iPod products that had to change their name, like Podcaster did. So find some other way to describe it. “TamNav for TomTom™” or whatever meets the legal requirement. Or even just add a line of fine print. We don’t know exactly what demands were made–they could have been simple ones.
> HOW was the sale of TamTam harming their company, or their product TomTom?
Tradmark infringement (yes, they did change it slightly, the lawyers know that). Defend your TM or lose it. Happens all the time. Does not indicate anti-Mac villainy.
> why did they think it was worth their LEGAL dollars to risk legal suits?
See above. Dilution of brasning. And probably costs a LOT, LOT less than developing software, so I don’t get that comparison.
> they’re just a selfish bunch of Dutch boys and girls who, it would appear, don’t want their product to interface with the Mac.
Clever insult. Where’s your evidence for that motivation?
My guess, if we put aside the “world against the Mac” mentality: this is just bad luck. TamTam made a mistake. TomTom legally defended their branding. TamTam CAN keep selling their app, but only if they change the packaging. That costs too much, because TamTam has almost no profit to work with. A shame, and I hope they sell the app to someone else now. But if TamTam makes so little money that they can’t meet a legitimate legal request for a branding change, then that’s just bad luck–not “selfish Dutch boys and girls” who hate Macs.
“TomTom feels that there is a danger of mistaking Tam Tam’s feet logo with TomTom’s hand logo.”
Personally, I’ve never had any difficulty telling the difference between the two appendages. Since the people at TomTom are experiencing that problem, I suggest that they have a discussion with a physician.
How to turn a win/win into a lose/lose.
I had decided that the Tom Tom was the most suitable unit for me and was hoping to find one discounted in the January sales.
Now that they have cut off OS X support via a third party supplier, what are they going to do instead ? There is no point in Mac users buying Tom Tom units if there is now no support for Macs.
I agree with the principle about trade mark infringement, but it’s hard to see how anybody comes out ahead with this result. A more sensible approach would have been to find a middle way that suits both parties.
OK, I don’t get it. So what is all this update software for Mac on the TOMTOM site about? I backed up my Tom Tom One to my Mac when I got it, I thought…
http://www.tomtom.com/support/solution.php?GID=1&PID=171&SID=174&CID=99&Language=1&FID=3581
Do something constructive – write them a letter or email. Do not use vile, be civil, and it will be taken to heart instead of dumped into the bitbucket.
investor.relations@tomtom.com
_____
THIMC:
http://www.equinux.com/us/company/newsdetail.html?id=210
Is there any reasonable explanation why your company is going to abandon and outright dismiss users of the fastest growing computer maker?
I cannot speak for others – i can only speak for me – I was planning on a small, portable GPS solution for myself for my growing photography business – but since the company has apparently gone from operating system neutral to being actively hostile to Mac OS X users, I’ll be going with a GPS unit from Garmin instead of a quirky, interesting and fun company like Tom Tom appeared to be.
This is not because of some boycott – this is because now, i am unable to use your product.
Alienating potential customers like this seems a pretty poor way to run a company.
-the other steve jobs
Whatever… TamTam is unneccessary now anyway, now that TomTom has released an updater client for OS X.
They just need to call it DrumDrum and carry on…
Boycott Tom Tom. Equinox was only trying to help there sales by putting out a product that would make it possible for Mac users to use there navigation system. It looks like Tom Tom is anti-Mac so I say boycott them.
They were actually trying to promote Tom Tom for Mac users when Tom Tom got anal about it.
Oh well Tom Tom can go bye bye now.
Good riddance Equinox!
I was one of the suckers who bought their software this time last year. We’d given my father a TomTom 300 (he LOVES it!) and wanted him to be able to use it with his Mac. Equinox was advertising themselves as the tool for this, so we coughed up the US$30 or so for it.
Long story short it never worked. The software seemed to be 90% about proving you owned it, was irrevocably linked to a single Mac it could be installed on, required authorization kets and all sorts of hoops to jump through to use. And after that proved unable to properly configure an SD card.
My poor father tried to contact Equnox’s support for a few weeks. At first no support. No response, nothing. Then they responded, calling his home, AT 4AM! Sport that he is he got out of bed and spent an hour walking their “tech” through the problem, (re)doing all of the things he’d already detailed in his requests for support.
Ultimately it was all to naught. The unaware-there-is-a-time-difference-between-the-Netherlands-and-East-Coast-North-America tech said he’d call back, then was (unsuprisingly) never heard from again. We figured no loss, he’d already made his uselessness (and that of his product) clearly obvious.
I used a handy Windows PC to make the updates to the TomTom as they came out and was pleased to discover this summer TomTom offered native Mac support. That has worked fine, and this news only reminds me to scrape Equinox’s P-O-S software off my drive.
That TomTom wants nothing to do with Equinox is reasonable. Aside from the probable harm they do to TomTom’s reputation they’re using TomTom’s trademarked graphics and trade dress without permission. If they want to CLAIM they’re “TomTom compatible” that’s fair game, but not to go using TomTom’s graphics etc. while doing so.
That Equinox is whining isn’t a suprise to me, it’s the vermin who always squeal loudest.
– An out-$30-with-nothing-to-show-for-it former customer of Equinox