AZUBU.tv Terms of Service

Launched just over three days ago, AZUBU.tv is seen by many in our community as a direct competitor to the firmly-entrenched online video streaming business of Twitch.tv.

A look at the Terms of Service of AZUBU.tv sheds an interesting, and very confusing, light on the situation:

11. Disclosures.

The services are offered by Justin.tv, Inc. dba AZUBU TV, located at: 23 Geary Street, Suite 800, San Francisco, CA 94108 and email: help@azubu.tv. If you are a California resident, you may have this same information emailed to you by sending a letter to the foregoing address with your email address and a request for this information.

(Editor's Note: Emphasis added)

There seems to be two logical interpretations of this:

Justin.tv, who owns and operates Twitch.tv, does in fact own and operate AZUBU.tv. DBA is a legal term in the United States for "doing business as," something required when operating with a fictious business name.

More information about this can be found on Wikipedia.

EDIT: OFFICIAL TWITCH STATEMENT ON THIS MATTER

https://twitter.com/jaredr/status/308826736638951427
The other interpretation is that AZUBU is directly copy-pasting Terms of Service from their competitor without any regard to the transferability of Twitch's terms to their particular service or business model.

This feasibility of this interpretation is fueled by the fact that the entire Terms of Service as listed on AZUBU's website seems disjointed, unorganized, and written with different voices.

Can those with more knowledge about this situation comment on the matter? This thread was made in reaction to publicly-available information found on both company's websites.

The implications of the first interpretation aren't as significant, I feel, as the implications of the second: a company directly copy-pasting legal documents so haphazardly.

Relevant links:
http://www.azubu.tv/footer/legal/service.jsp
http://www.twitch.tv/user/legal
http://pastebin.com/bqaLf60s

Last edit: 2013-03-05 16:03:36

<Rekrul> luck is just statistics taken personally

InfestedOne United States. March 05 2013 14:29. Posts 13

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This is very strange! I would like to see a response from both parties!

Jaaaaasper United States. March 05 2013 14:31. Posts 2435

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Wow, either way this looks bad for azubu tv competing with twitch. Either they are owned by the same people who own twitch, or they are lazy/ incompetent enough to strait up copy paste terms of service from their competitor, which does not look good at all for the quality of the company.

Sounds like your relationships suck, although probably not literally.- kwark Best part of waking up, KwarK banning rape apologists in my cup! I guess you could say... *puts on sunglasses* ... they were asking for it. colaboy and Kasaraki

InfestedOne United States. March 05 2013 14:34. Posts 13

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Agreed. ^^ Either way though, their is some explaining to do. If I may ask, why did you decide to scroll through the terms of service for azubu.tv? I don't know a single person that ACTUALLY READS that stuff, along with the End User License Agreement stuff. Just wondering.

ShiroKaisen United States. March 05 2013 14:35. Posts 548

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On March 05 2013 14:34 InfestedOne wrote:
Agreed. ^^ Either way though, their is some explaining to do. If I may ask, why did you decide to scroll through the terms of service for azubu.tv? I don't know a single person that ACTUALLY READS that stuff, along with the End User License Agreement stuff. Just wondering.

Obviously after the silly stuff happened on their website before he wanted to see how deep the rabbit hole goes.

Plus, even today, no one knows what the fuck Azubu DOES. It's worth investigating.

Last edit: 2013-03-05 14:40:39

Dame da na, zenzen dame da ze!

itsjustatank United States. March 05 2013 14:36. Posts 3118

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I have made a habit of reading legal stuff and considering what I find before I sign up or use a service, it's just good practice to do it.

<Rekrul> luck is just statistics taken personally

FlukyS Ireland. March 05 2013 14:37. Posts 443

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I think it has to be option 2, I can't see any reason for jtv to open another competing service for any reason what so ever. It just wouldn't make sense.

SoraLimit Canada. March 05 2013 14:37. Posts 547

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I assume more people now, especially streamers would read the fine print ever since the whole incident with Own3d.tv

Integra Sweden. March 05 2013 14:40. Posts 4927

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wait, what...azubu.tv IS twitch.tv?

"Dark Pleasure"

Rekrul Korea (South). March 05 2013 14:44. Posts 16552

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AZUBUCOM

why so 진지해?

LuckyFool United States. March 05 2013 14:44. Posts 8290

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On March 05 2013 14:40 Integra wrote:
wait, what...azubu.tv IS twitch.tv?

No wonder azubu had so much money to throw around before they "did" anything!

It all makes so much sense now! The secret has finally been exposed, justin.tv faked a competitor to further manipulate the streaming industry.

@LuckyFool88

ROOTCatZ

Peru. March 05 2013 14:47. Posts 1004

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On March 05 2013 14:44 Rekrul wrote:
AZUBUCOM

I miss you baby, come visit Peru

www.root-gaming.com

Torte de Lini Canada. March 05 2013 14:48. Posts 27079

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What does dba mean?

https://twitter.com/#!/TorteDeLini (@TorteDeLini)

Vaelone Finland. March 05 2013 14:49. Posts 1851

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On March 05 2013 14:48 Torte de Lini wrote:
What does dba mean?

It's in the OP.

DBA is a legal term in the United States for "doing business as," something required when operating with a fictious business name.

recklessfire United States. March 05 2013 14:49. Posts 354

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On March 05 2013 14:48 Torte de Lini wrote:
What does dba mean?

doing business as

itsjustatank United States. March 05 2013 14:49. Posts 3118

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On March 05 2013 14:48 Torte de Lini wrote:
What does dba mean?

doing business as

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doing_business_as

a legal thing you have to do in the United States to operate under a fictitious name

<Rekrul> luck is just statistics taken personally

dAPhREAk Nauru. March 05 2013 14:51. Posts 8698

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azubu is a registered corporation (assuming this is a related corp). i couldnt find twitch so they may be under a different name, or they arent registered in California to do business.

Entity Name: AZUBU NORTH AMERICA INC.
Entity Number: C3523560
Date Filed: 12/12/2012
Status: ACTIVE
Jurisdiction: DELAWARE
Entity Address: 1639 11TH STREET
Entity City, State, Zip: SANTA MONICA CA 90404
Agent for Service of Process: C T CORPORATION SYSTEM
Agent Address: 818 W SEVENTH ST
Agent City, State, Zip: LOS ANGELES CA 90017

http://kepler.sos.ca.gov/

Zidane United States. March 05 2013 14:51. Posts 1511

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Well they're both in SF, although azubu's location is different from twitch.

Yokwe United States. March 05 2013 14:55. Posts 31

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Competition is almost always good in scenarios like this.

"Pudding...wait for it....pops." - Bill Cosby

dAPhREAk Nauru. March 05 2013 14:55. Posts 8698

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soemone pointed out twitch is owned by justin.tv

Entity Name: JUSTIN.TV, INC.
Entity Number: C2794497
Date Filed: 12/29/2006
Status: ACTIVE
Jurisdiction: DELAWARE
Entity Address: 47 LUSK ST
Entity City, State, Zip: SAN FRANCISCO CA 94107
Agent for Service of Process: MICHAEL SEIBEL
Agent Address: 47 LUSK ST
Agent City, State, Zip: SAN FRANCISCO CA 94107