TwitPic, the original image-sharing site, is safe for ‘the time being’ and Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) has decided to save and protect the 800m photographs on it after a deal made at the eleventh-hour. The images will remain online after TwitPic gave its domain and all of its photo archive to Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR).

However, the image-serving site, established in February 2008 so tweeters could share photos and later merged into the site itself will close down and its many users will have no choice but to move over to the photo-sharing service handled by Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR), if they have not switched already.

Noah Everett, the founder of TwitPic, explained that this decision was taken because the social network had the same goal as TwitPic-to safeguard its users and the photos. Since TwitPic has a user base that is made up of Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) users, it was only logical hand over photo data to Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR). Everett went on to thank users for letting TwitPic share in the exchange of photo memories for almost seven years and felt honored to be part of the photo-sharing service.

The early success of TwitPic as Twitter’s main and most reliable photo service, took it to the point where is became host to a range of its most renowned photos that went viral. Probably one of the most prominent images for both TwitPic and Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) was taken by Jānis Krūms’ and captured the US Airways Flight 1549 that crashed into the Hudson River in 2009 after an emergency landing when a bird struck it and damaged both engines.

Even after five years, many people believe the “Miracle on Hudson” photo helped prove that Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) was a worthy news-gathering social network which had the power to disseminate the crash story all over the world before traditional media could make it to the crash site.

However, even though TwitPic enjoyed this kind of historical significance, it came extremely close to abolishing its whole photo archive. Just last month, Everett declared that TwitPic’s trademark dispute with Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) meant the photo-sharing service would have to shut down completely. During that time, Everett also penned that the social network had been in touch with TwitPic’s legal department and demanded it call of its trademark application or jeopardize its right to use their API. This was a shock to TwitPic because it had been around since the beginning of 2008 and made its application for trademark to the USPTO a year later.

This left some pondering over why TwitPic didn’t just change its name in response to Twitter’s demands, and others speculating over whether this trademark dispute was, perhaps, a good way to cover up its struggle to remain afloat after Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) set up its own inbuilt photo-sharing service and succeeded in destroying TwitPic’s business model.

There are a number of other sites that provide photo-sharing services available since the time when Twitter started, but they have very different business models. YFrog became a mature photo-sharing service and Instagram battled with Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR)and grew to Twitter’s level in magnitude before it was bought out by Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) in 2012 for $1 billion.

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