TwitPic shut down has left many Twitter users in shock. On September 5, the longtime Twitter photo sharing site announced through a blog post that they will end their operation by September 25.
"TwitPic will be shutting down September 25th. You will be able to export all your photos and videos. We'll let everyone know when this feature is live in the next few days," the company said in a statement.
"This is an unexpected and hard announcement for us to make and we want to lay out what led us to this decision."
Turned out, it was Twitter itself that forced TwitPic shut down. TwitPic claimed that the micro blogging site wants them to leave their trademark or some bad things will happen to the company.
"A few weeks ago Twitter contacted our legal demanding that we abandon our trademark application or risk losing access to their API. This came as a shock to us since Twitpic has been around since early 2008, and our trademark application has been in the USPTO since 2009."
Noah Everett, the man who founded TwitPic, seems to have accepted the turn of events.
"On a personal note I (@noaheverett) want to thank you for letting us be a part of your life and helping you share your experiences over the past 6 years, it's truly been an honor. I have learned so much through running Twitpic over the years. Through the many mistakes I've made and lessons learned, to the bad days and the great days. Thank you again everyone...I will miss and cherish the days of Twitpic we had together."
Twitter though has something to say about this TwitPic shut down. In a statement the company released on the same day the news was announced, a Twitter spokesperson said in an emailed statement to TIME that they are 'sad' to see this development.
"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."
