We are writing this with very sadness that this will be the last post published on our blog. Sony Mobile Communications AB have raised a formal complaint about using their trademarked name “XPERIA” in our domain name “XperiaGuide.com” and wants us to discontinue the use of XperiaGuide.com immediately.
Sony Mobile is the copyright owner of all the images of the phones and the themes ( leaked by the users around the net and republished on our site ) published on out site as mentioned by them in the notice sent to us. We felt very disappointed after seeing the complaint from Sony Mobile Communications AB. We have spent so much of our free time in writing the content and promoting the brand “Xperia” on web. We have been helping Xperia users since we started this blog. We never had any bad intentions to defame their brand name, what we posted was unbiased content.
We always mentioned the source of the content from wherever the content has come from. We respect copyrights of every organization very sincerely and have never done anything wrong to infringe any IP rights of any organization in any manner.
Xperia Guide has been Quoted directly on reputed tech websites around the world like “GsmArena ( 1 , 2, 3, 4 ), IBTimes ( 1, 2, 3, 4 ), GottaBeMobile, PhoneArena ( 1, 2, 3, 4 ), SoftPedia ( 1, 2, 3, 4 ), NDTV ( 1, 2, 3, 4 ) , AndroidPolice, XperiaBlog ( 1, 2, 3 ), PhonesReview ( 1, 2, 3, 4 ), Engadget ( 1, 2 ), AndroidCommunity ( 1, 2 ), YugaTech, PhonAndroid( 1, 2 ), Yahoo News, UnWiredView, TheVerge, UberGizmo, ThinkDigit, PocketNow, TechTimes, Tech2, AndroidAuthority. ~ List is big we can’t name everyone here…
OFFICIAL Sony Xperia Middle East Twitter account (@SonyXperiaME ) and “Ionut Arghire”, News Editor for Softpedia ( @IonutArghire ) is following Xperia Guide on Twitter .
Recently a press invite by Sony India PR team was sent to us for the launch event of Xperia Z2 in India, New Delhi on 8 May which we felt as an appreciation for our work. We never expected Sony Mobile Communications AB to come up with such decision for a blog which is started only with one vision of helping and growing Xperia community into a bigger one.
We will not be able to fight against the claims made by Sony Mobile Communications AB because of lack of resources therefore our team has decided not to post anymore content on this blog from now until the case is resolved in full terms and we will transfer the domain name to Sony Mobile Communications AB, remove the content if asked to do so and discontinue the use of gizmobolt.com in any manner.
We thank to every reader of this blog to help us grow into a large community of 16K likers on Facebook and 2K followers on Twitter. At last we would like to say we will continue posting and helping Xperia users and community on our new startup GizmoBolt.com with the same dedication and passion. We are expecting every reader on our new blog soon. We need support from Xperia users community regarding the actions taken against us. Please support us every Sony Xperia users in good faith if we have ever helped you.
We wish Sony Mobile Communications a very good financial BY 2014 ahead and we hope they will continue bringing some more good smartphones in Xperia lineup. Though we never did any thing bad to Sony’s trademark “XPERIA” still we would like to apologies to Sony Mobile Communications AB on behalf of our whole team.
Thank You.
Regards,
Anurag Kumar & Ashish Kumar
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Very disappointing!! OMG. This is not justice.
Anurag you will post xperias info and frimware on https://www.gizmobolt.com?
Yes we have started the transfer process now, we will try to make it live very soon within a week hopefully.
That’s very sad news 🙁
:'(
Why??? We still need this website… So sad Sony do this
Sony you don’t want us to stop buying your products. Do you?.
Gutted to see this go as it was a source of great info when it came to the decision between sticking to my iPhone or swapping for an Xperia device! Sad that some companies don’t see the value in the ‘little’ guys who support them! Perhaps you guys should ask Sony for a job in their marketing and services dept!
Thanks for your kind words Richard but I guess Sony fails to see that other way around 🙁
I’ve been a regular reader in this blog, this is a sad news for every single reader.
I think you’re doing to transfer these contents to new domain w/o using the brand name in it, if Sony mobiles AB has no issues writing contents about their phones.
Hope you continue your service soon.
Hi,
Yes exactly that we are doing, transferring the content on our new startup http://GizmoBolt.com w/o any brand name in it. Sony had issues only with Trademark not with content published.
Regards.
not true. if they don’t want blogs to use “xperia” in their domain, then why do we have xperiablog.net which is very much alive and kicking? if i got it right, the admin of that xperia blog also had issues with sony mobile way back when it was just starting out. but i think he and sony mobile reached an agreement on the use of the “xperia” copyright in its domain, which resulted in the blog explicitly stating that it was not related to sony mobile whatsoever and that it is an independent and unofficial sony xperia blog site. you might want to reach out to the admin of that blog.
They were shut down for 3 months before they reached an agreement with Sony.
We have written to Sony regarding this, if they agrees on giving us rights to do so, we will continue…otherwise we will shift whole content on other domain…
I have to say, no doubt that you have helped all the Xperia phone owners around the globe.Such a pity that Sony itself asked to discontinue this.I find that very unpleasant from Sony. Anyway I wish you good luck in your new website,may it be even better than XperiGuide.
XDA RT,
Omessy7
Dear Omar,
It’s nice to hear those words 🙂
We will soon be done with the transfer and hope to set up the new blog soon with all OLD posts back soon in place, it would be a hard work but if all the posted content went away many Xperia users will fall in trouble.
Regards,
Anurag
oh bad. I think many users of Xperia have been helped a lot by this blog which SonyCommunication didn’t provide to us.
Easy way round this is to go on facebook then when people post stuff sony dont like sony can ask facebook to take down the pic or delete the profile but not your group.
I always personally loved your blog. I don’t own a Sony Xperia device. I own HTC One M7, I always wanted a blog like yours for HTC phones. To be frank, will miss your blog. Well, domains with brand names shouldn’t be registered from now on. You also have some Nexus blog.. right? Make sure it is safe bro. Will read news from Gizmobolt from now on 🙂
Yes But we have CultofApple, AndroidAuthority, AndroidCentral, AndroidPolice and loads of blog with Android and Samsung, Apple in it. No one had issues ever.
It’s not the first time Sony did this, it has been done with another blog also back in 2011-12.
Yes we will be on safe side now, will transfer all content to w/o brand domains ( for both XG and NA ).
Regards,
WTF SONY!! FUCK THIS SHIT!!
Where else i can found great stuff like this??!! sonymobile.com?? fuck that!!
Just dont do it… Sony is not ready to provide good information like you do on this blog.. They are jealous… They just dont like people doing good stuff than them… Their services and support is getting worse and they dont even know how to support this blog (or any) which tries to promote Sony.. Just because of blogs like these, Sony is able to meet the success in smartphone sales… Shame on Sony.. If I were you, I wouldnt respond to them…
I think Sony is the first loser by closing this blog , this blog serve a lot of people worldwide , DON’T be sad guys you have our trust and our love.
GO TO HELL SONY This is not justice
Buttshit sony! That is why sony never go up to the first place.
How about xperiablog.net, sonyviet.vn….?
Sony is not worth for such a passion n dedication. Stupid sony!
Stupid sony!
Stop writing about Sony.
You provide news about ore devices more than Sony does.. You retain our hope in Sony and how they are working on our updates.. You help in spreading Xperia development.. I wished our beloved brand took your help in marketing instead of taking it down.. 🙁 hats off for all your and your tend hard work anurag!! Expect to getsanesame kind of info on your new site.. All the best 🙂
Мы будем надеется что Сонй передумает! Мы будем вас ждать!
It’s petty,petty,petty 🙁
Instead of xperi you rename it as “junk” or “crap” where ever it appears and continue the web side. then no one can dare to stop .
This website i found better than sony’s official sites where we got lot of information and useful applications. Sony forums are full of complaints than use of mobiles or good information. Even software update details also we get to know in better way here…
If there is a search and replace option in you server, replace this word with “junk” or “crap” and continue if using this word is only an issue
goodbye Xperiablog is better
ask u questions no response sleep tight
Sad to hear Anurag,,,
Sad to hear that bro. Don’t worry we’ll love reading your new page like we loved your first blog.build it soon,wishing you a good luck!!!
very sad news
thanks for every thing and i will support you because you deserve
Thats Really Sad…Been Findinge This Web Just Like A Month 🙁 Been The Best Of My Days And Like Starting To Get To Know My XPERIA More…
Guess I See You At GizmoBolt…
Screw sony!!
I so sorry about that news,
coz we like your website so much,
most of our user learn from your website
hope u ok with new website,new design & new features
Well as sad as it is to read that Sony doen not allow the use of the Xperia name, i am So glad that you are going to continue the work that you do. I have bookmarked the new website and hope to read mode soon. Keep up the good work.
Don’t worry mate …
just transfer your posts & other stuff’s to your new Domain ,
We will be with you ,
because we love your posts & Guides .
Regards <3
Tulisan anda sangat bermutu, bermanfaat bahkan informasi yang anda berikan mengalahkan layanan dari Sony. Mereka iri karena blog anda sangat bagus. Blog resmi dari sony sendiri tidak ada menyajikan seperti d blog ini. Harusnya pihak Sony merangkul anda bukan sebaliknya. Keterlaluan..! Fuck you Sony!!
this is very pathetic movement from sony india side. kudos the owners of this website for giving valuable information for xperia phones. I hope, i can read the information about xperia, from their new website. I wish you all the best for new website.
Just wondering though… How come xperiablog.net isn’t facing the same issue as xperiaguide? As far as I know both are non official blogs and uses the brand name ‘xperia’ on both name and domain? Am I missing something here?
Well Xperiablog has already faced this issue in 2011 when they were shut because of Sony’s same issue…They made an agreement with Sony but it took them 3-4 months to reach to that agreement and for that period they had downtime….
We will try our best to negotiate with Sony so that we can keep continue writing here….If TOC of Sony seems OK then we will keep writing here…But it will take time say 3-4 months and for that period we will not be able to write anything here, so were shifting to http://GizmoBolt.com so that we can write there and no user is affected because of all this…
Ahh… If that’s the case then I think it would be better to clone the whole site to your new host & domain, change all site names with xperia on it to something else & have the gizmobolt.com domain forward at the moment to your new host. That way if ever the issue is resolved you won’t have any trouble with fixing/updating the xperiaguide site anymore. Hopefully though this gets resolved. I don’t see any reason why sony would do this considering that they already allowed some sites like this to operate. I think it’s just a matter of asking official permission from them perhaps?
Yes we have sent them a mail asking for official permission and giving us license to use their TM here officially. If they agree then it will be fine…otherwise we have done uploading GizmoBolt.com on our host and the same theme with same menu structure will be there just under different domain name….
We are not allowed to post any more further content on this blog as they have asked us to discontinue using gizmobolt.com so we will start writing at GizmoBolt.com where we will have full freedom on content and everything.
Anurag,
Is using name “xperia” is only problem ?? If so can new domain name change to some thing like “xpraguide” or “xperiguide” ??
without completely using the name xperia ?
I will keep the domain name aware of xperia users and able to remember quickly. Off couse, long time followers will remember with any name but new comers can easily find with their search.
thanks.
They setup this whole incident so that you will contact them. Then when do, they will give you conditions that can be a profit for them or else they will not give you a license. In short, they want to profit in your blog it’s that simple.
Which surely we will not agree upon that’s why we decided to move the data to other domain…They can’t snatch freedom of press from us 🙂
Silly move, Sony, very silly move. Don’t worry anurag I’ll gladly follow u to ur new site but if there is any way we can help or petition Sony to change their position, do let us know. Keep up the good work& know u are truly appreciated. Just to show u how much u have helped me and the silly Sony who want to close u down- I recently ordered for the sbh80 Bluetooth headset& that’s because I saw it ON UR SITE!
No way! this is my favorite xperia web! i’m starting to h*te sony
IS SONY Foolish. Preventing free campaigning why why…. This is very bad decisions would impact on mobile sell……
Try to contact chief officer in Sony about this issue and explain that, you are only promoting their products.
dem, this side was awesome and helpful, home and wish Sony think again, bring you back and post as normal.
I’ve never seen a site as helpful as Xperia blog.
Why would Sony do this kind of thing.
So sad. 🙁
^
^
Epic fail 😀 This is Xperia Guide not Xperiablog hahaha!
I remember that some time ago (maybe two years, the time of the change from sony ericsson to sonymobile) xperiablog.net gave a notice that they were forced by sony to close their blog. After a few weeks they came back and the site went on, they wrote, that they made an arrangement with sony.
Don’t give up and try to contact xperiablog.net, maybe they can give you a hint. Contact sony. I hope you can continue. I like your site very much! Good luck.
yes we have already contacted them, they are are our friends…We have written to Sony regarding this, if we get a positive reply then it is good otherwise we will let it go..
I’m very dissappointed on Sony’s decision. I always visited gizmobolt.com to find any new information about Xperia. I feel in love with Xperia.
We’ve to send petition to Sony not to close down or sue this blog.
Radzie, Aceh, Indonesia
i think you just need to explicitly indicate that this is an unofficial and completely independent blog that supports sony xperia phones.
take a look at xperiablog.net’s wording in its site:
“XperiaBlog.net is a completely INDEPENDENT and UNOFFICIAL website dedicated to Sony Xperia products
Sony Ericsson, XPERIA and X10, and various products names found on this website are trademarks of Sony Mobile Communications AB, unless otherwise noted. SONY is a trademark of Sony Corporation. ERICSSON is a trademark of Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson.”
it is already written in our footer on every page and on our disclaimer in footer on every page.
perhaps you need to enlighten them just as how the admin of xperiablog.net was able to persuade them to use “xperia” in the domain. if he was able to do it, i’m pretty sure you can, too.
and while you’re at it, you might want to raise the instance where sony mobile relented to xperiablog.net’s request. this would give credence to your argument as both your blog and xperiablog.net’s issue are pretty similar.
good luck!
yes we have mentioned the same in our mail request to Sony, we hope they accepts it.
i’m hoping you get a positive response from them. i’m all for supporting sony’s xperia and it doesn’t make sense for them to shoot their messengers in the foot (i.e. blogs with xperia niche). good luck and thanks for all the information you shared for all xperia fans!
best thing to do is to spread info about this. CREATE BAD PUBLICITY FOR SONY for doing this. those stupid IPR people don’t know what they are doing. lets see what they’d do after the backlash.
tip gsmarena, phonearena, android authority, and other sites about this stupidity.
it’s because of sites like xperiaguide that I’ve chosen to buy a Sony smartphone in stead of another brand. Sad to see you go.
oh sad news we hope you will get back this site soon, I am checking it daily and you helped us a lot, dont worry will follow the new site:)
Too bad. If it’s not xperia guide, where can i get any information regarding xperia smartphones? that’s very dissapointing to sony mobiles. This blog is very informative compared to some sony mobile’s customer services.
I’m waiting for your new blog kumar! good luck!
mr. kumar, i need your help.. i cant change the lockscreen wallpaper of my updated xperia z 4.4.2.. help.. you are the only one who can help me..
That was low sony!