Streamlabs OBS is removing “OBS” from its name following accusations of plagiarism

Logitech, Streamlabs' parent company, is being accused of plagiarism for copying the layout of Lightstream to create the Xbox-exclusive Streamlabs Studios website. However, that's not all, as the “OBS” naming was used without the consent of OBS' founders, leading streamers and former employees of Streamlabs to ask Logitech to solve the situation. 

It all started soon after the announcement of Streamlabs Studios, a new streaming and recording service compatible with Xbox One and Series X|S consoles. Lightstream, a similar streaming and recording service for consoles, tweeted a comparison between Streamlabs Studios' and its own website, and it's hard to miss the similarities. The first thing you'll notice is the similar layout, but if you read the text, there are also a lot of similarities. Streamlabs has since admitted that it has made a mistake via Twitter, claiming that it used the text as a placeholder. The text has since been altered to the “intended version”.

Near the launch of SLOBS, @streamlabs reached out to us about using the OBS name. We kindly asked them not to. They did so anyway and followed up by filing a trademark

We’ve tried to sort this out in private and they have been uncooperative at every turnhttps://t.co/r1eXr3VxcJ

— OBS (@OBSProject) November 17, 2021

A day later, OBS came out claiming that back when Streamlabs OBS launched, OBS's team was asked by Streamlabs if it could use the “OBS” name for their product. The OBS team refused, but as you can see, it didn't stop them from using it and even trademarking it. OBS added that despite trying to solve this issue in private, the Streamlabs team has been “uncooperative at every turn”.

After OBS's tweet, streamers like Pokimane and HasanAbi threatened to stop using Streamlabs if they didn't solve the situation, which they did by removing “OBS” from its name.

KitGuru says: As an open-source platform, OBS's code can be used by anyone, but using its name without permission is another matter. Considering Streamlabs was using OBS's code, the least it could do was respect the OBS team and not use its name. We hope Streamlabs has learned a valuable lesson.

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