Burger King Uses Twitter to Send Cease & Desist Notice

Friday, December 19th, 2008 by Andy Beal

Burger King Uses Twitter to Send Cease & Desist Notice

Just days after an Australian judge ruled that Facebook could be used to server a home owner foreclosure legal documents, we now have a curious case of a cease and desist notice being sent via Twitter.

The official Burger King Twitter account has apparently sent such a notice to the account "WhopperVirgins"–which we assume has been "brandjacked" by someone outside of the fast food company.

Now, knowing BK, this could just be some kind of inside joke, but it will be interesting to see if this is the beginning of a growing trend. I, for one, have personally been a victim of brandjacking on Twitter–although I chose a more amicable solution for getting back the Trackur username.

If a judge can legitimize Facebook as a channel for legal communication, then surely we can assume the same for Twitter. This has ramifications way beyond the return of a hijacked Twitter account and is plagued with obvious flaws–what if the person has blocked you?

I’d personally like to see a more structured way for trademark owners to quickly have a brandjacked account returned to them–asking Twitter is like asking Santa Claus–so let’s hope this is a step in that direction.

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24 comments on “Burger King Uses Twitter to Send Cease & Desist Notice”

Kenya Says:

December 19th, 2008 at 2:06 pm

How do we know that @theBKlounge is the official Burger King Twitter account? There is nothing about it that suggests that it is – the tweets certainly don’t. For all I know in just looking at this is that two brandjackers are competing with each other. I’m sure Burger King has a legal department and I doubt that they would think such a practice is legally sufficient. Legally, Burger King can subpoena Twitter for information about the offending account and serve a cease and desist notice that way.
Andy Beal Says:

December 19th, 2008 at 2:13 pm

@Kenya – I agree, this could all be a hoax, or two brandjackers talking to each other.
Scott Mahler Says:

December 19th, 2008 at 5:33 pm

This would be funny, if it didn’t speak of a bigger problem. Just like everything else in the world, scam artists abound in the social media world. I don’t understand why they put that much energy into ripping people off, when they could use that same energy to do their own work?

Scott Mahler’s last blog post..Internet Marketing For Your Website: Tips On How It’s Done
Burger King Serves Cease and Desist Notice Via Twitter | FutuLab Says:

December 19th, 2008 at 5:41 pm

[...] Source [...]
Burger King Issues a Cease & Desist…on Twitter | Monty's Mega Marketing Says:

December 19th, 2008 at 8:01 pm

[...] official Burger King Twitter account has apparently sent such a notice to the account “WhopperVirgins“, which seems to have been “brandjacked” by [...]
mark Says:

December 19th, 2008 at 10:00 pm

as the brandjacker of the @trackur name, what possible recourse did you have (if I wasn’t nice and gave it to you?) btw, you promised you would use/develop it, and, with 36 followers, you haven’t done a damn thing with it.
Andy Beal Says:

December 19th, 2008 at 10:14 pm

@Mark – I’ve done exactly what I wanted to do with it.
JustinSMV Says:

December 20th, 2008 at 1:52 am

Doesn’t seem legit to give an CD order like that on Twitter, measures would of been taken for direct e-mail contact so the BK boys can flaunt their million dollar lawyers address& contact info which is far more intimidating than a 140 character remark. Nice find though.

JustinSMV’s last blog post..Why You Should Drop Twitter Tool Qwitter Like A Bad Habit
Nicole Price Says:

December 20th, 2008 at 8:56 am

I bet that everyone will have a good laugh about the whole issue in a while.

Nicole Price’s last blog post..Tips to Save Money During the Holidays
Burger King Serves the First Cease and Desist Notice on Twitter | Gauravonomics Blog Says:

December 20th, 2008 at 1:05 pm

[...] serving lien. Now Burger King has served the first cease and desist notice on Twitter (via G4TV via Marketing Pilgrim) – @whoppervirgins CEASE AND DESIST. UNAUTHORIZED USE OF TRADEMARK. What is your motivation [...]
Burger King Uses Twitter To Send Cease & Desist Says:

December 20th, 2008 at 3:08 pm

[...] Twitter is like asking Santa Claus,” marketer Andy Beal wrote. Beal hoped the Burger King action signals a move to a more organized way to use the Internet [...]
Paul Rasmussen Says:

December 20th, 2008 at 3:57 pm

What amazes me about all of this is not whether or not it is really BK, it is the fact that people assumed that Twitter and Facebook were not just another means of communication,like letters, emails, and phone calls. It just seems like common sense to me. If you are not prepared to see and back up the things that you say and do on national TV or in court you should probably not say them at all

Paul Rasmussen’s last blog post..FACEBOOK | Do you Self-Censor your Profile
Small Business Marketing Says:

December 21st, 2008 at 12:50 am

How do we know it is truly a Burger King initiated event? I’ve seen those email from the IRS sting that I’ve qualified to get money back and asking for information from me. It looks official. So what?
AIDS Drugs Says:

December 21st, 2008 at 2:45 pm

This definitely does not seem real to me, I doubt if burger king found out that they would send a twitter message. Most likely a cease and desist order in person by 5 lawyers.
Stajo Says:

December 22nd, 2008 at 1:41 am

Twitter is not big enough yet to concentrate a lot of brand’s attention, so that CD message is enough for now. But when twitter expands brands going to be more concerned (and BK better name itself Burger king instead of some theBKlounge), and twitter should cooperate with brands in such cases, perhaps even find a way to make mone from these cooperations.

Stajo’s last blog post..The Seesmic Song
Wii Fit Says:

December 22nd, 2008 at 6:17 am

I hope this make their bussiness easy and popular.
DeAnna Troupe Says:

December 22nd, 2008 at 9:07 pm

I have to agree with the others before me. How do we know that this is really Burger King? Someone at Burger King needs to set up a twitter account called The Real Burger King before a brandjacker does.
Kristina Weis Says:

December 27th, 2008 at 1:17 am

It’s great to see people actually using Twitter and other social media sites in this way. The capability is there, so why not? If you haven’t already heard or seen it there is a random Comcast employee doing something similar trying to respond to people mentioning service problems, etc: http://www.twitter.com/comcastcares. Also, here’s a related post about prevent brandjacking before it happens: http://www.amplify-interactive.com/blog/2008/11/17/spend-30-minutes-to -protect-your-online-brand/.
Burger King and the Politics of Social Media Transparency « eyecube Says:

January 15th, 2009 at 8:35 am

[...] issue about always being in character is suspect. Just a couple of weeks ago, @thebklounge sent a Cease and Desist notice to a fan who had brandjacked, @whoppervirgins, [...]
DF Marketing SEO Says:

January 16th, 2009 at 11:02 am

Tooooo funnny… This could be a good marketing ploy of creating online havoc for a brand. just joking
Vacation in the Tropics « The Zooniverse Says:

February 10th, 2009 at 5:38 pm

[...] and in no way are proclaiming to have anything to do with Burger King. Of course a few days later this happens. In this case I think its pretty obvious this is just someone having some fun with the Burger King [...]
Fenixnordic Group » Blog Archive » Twitter Could ‘Go For Years’ Without Earning a Dime, Investor Says Says:

February 13th, 2009 at 7:09 pm

[...] but it is difficult to determine who is legit. Burger King recently ran into a case of "brand jacking" with a fake Whopper Virgins account, and someone impersonating the Dalai Lama was escorted [...]
Twitter Could ‘Go for Years’ Without Earning a Dime, Investor Says | Socialesque Blog Says:

February 15th, 2009 at 1:44 pm

[...] but it is difficult to determine who is legit. Burger King recently ran into a case of “brand jacking” with a fake Whopper Virgins account, and someone impersonating the Dalai Lama was escorted [...]
Twit twit twitter away with no money… | Lean Green Machine Says:

February 15th, 2009 at 1:59 pm

[...] but it is difficult to determine who is legit. Burger King recently ran into a case of “brand jacking” with a fake Whopper Virgins account, and someone impersonating the Dalai Lama was escorted [...]