Bebo founder michael birch sends cease and desist to airbnb for infringement on "genital marketing" | techcrunch

Bebo founder Michael Birch just sent Airbnb what seems to be a hilarious tongue-in-cheek cease and desist letter, citing the “phallic nature” of the new Airbnb logo. Airbnb’s new logo has

been a sort of Rorschach test for all of Silicon Valley, as it has been referred to as both the male and female genitals. To add to the hilarity, Birch sent out a tweet this afternoon that

calls out Airbnb for infringing on his “Genital Marketing(TM)” IP. > Dear @bchesky @airbnb – you're new logo infringes on my IP – > http://t.co/V7fBcmEB7L >  > — Michael 

Birch (@mickbirch) July 18, 2014 Bebo had announced nearly a year ago on Youtube that it was launching a new whiteboard feature that Birch called, “The single biggest repository for

illustrated cock and balls ever recorded.” [embedded content] Birch’s letter to Airbnb contests that, “…the visual representation of genitals has become an iconic, strong, firmly associated

image with the Bebo brand worldwide.” “Given that Bebo has hung its hat on the tip of Genital Marketing(TM), we firmly request that you discontinue the use of the ‘Bélo’ logo immediately.

The phallic nature of the AirBnB logo has the potential to confuse, conflate, and deceive the general public.” “How did they manage to get all genitalia into one doodle?” Birch asked me over

the phone. “I let it slide when Dre put our logo on his headphones. But this has reached a climax. We simply can’t be dicked around like this.” We reached out to Airbnb for comment and are

waiting to hear back. In the meantime, here’s Birch’s letter to Airbnb, in full: Bebo Cease and Desist to Airbnb