Photo-sharing site Twitpic announced on Thursday that it is finally shutting down on Oct. 25 after failing to find potential acquirers.
"It's with a heavy heart that I announce again that Twitpic will be shutting down on October 25th. We worked through a handful of potential acquirers and exhausted all potential options. We were almost certain we had found a new home for Twitpic (hence our previous tweet), but agreeable terms could not be met. Normally we wouldn't announce something like that prematurely but we were hoping to let our users know as soon as possible that Twitpic was living on," wrote Twitpic founder Noah Everett in a blog post.
The developer encouraged users to start exporting their videos and photos before the closing date. Everett also explained that the shutdown was decided after Twitter's legal team contacted them to abandon the trademark application. Otherwise, they lose their API.
In 2011, Twitter launched its own photo-sharing service through its partnership with Photobucket. Since then, it became the top means of uploading pictures in the site but the latest survey showed that there are still four percent using Twitpic, AYTM reports.
"Unfortunately we do not have the resources to fend off a large company like Twitter to maintain our mark that we believe whole heartedly is rightfully ours. Therefore, we have decided to shut down Twitpic," he added.
This is not the first time that Twitpic announced that they were shutting down. In early September, the company announced that it it shutting down on Sept. 25 but withdrew the announcement, citing an unspecified company's acquisition of the site. However, it seemed that the two failed to reach an agreement so Twitpic is proceeding with the shutdown this month.
"We're sad to see Twitpic is shutting down. We encourage developers to build on top of the Twitter service, as Twitpic has done for years, and we made it clear that they could operate using the Twitpic name. Of course, we also have to protect our brand, and that includes trademarks tied to the brand," a Twitter spokesperson said, according to the Wall Street Journal.
