Facebook and court seemed to mixed up together again, says TechCrunch. However, this time it has nothing to do with bullying websites TeachBook or PlaceBook into changing their names because they dared to use the word “book.”. The U.K. company called CIS Internet Limited left off with this in 2008, where now Facebook is trying to get “face” to be a trademark name. Facebook wants to move forward with the CIS’s trademark application it bought.
Facebook wants to get a trademark
Facebook wants to trademark “face.” This is not news to many. Trademarks are important to corporate branding, but sometimes it is too much. Once a man tried to trademark “ganja.” That was an interesting court case. The site Fark.com once attempted to trademark “NSFW.”. There was one more one where a girl tried to trademark her nickname. That was Snookie from “The Jersey Shore”. None of those individuals got their trademark. It is likely that Facebook will lose face also.
Aaron Greenspan objects
The very same Aaron Greenspan who once claimed that he helped Mark Zuckerberg create Facebook is against the company’s try to trademark “face.”. Greenspan would end up having to pay Facebook if Facebook gets its “face” trademark because of the mobile payment app called FaceCash that Greenspan’s company, Think Computer, created. So would Apple, whose Facetime video calling app appears on the iPhone 4. Greenberg and no doubt numerous other entrepreneurs would appreciate being able to use the generic term in naming future products.
Move on Facebook from this
Considering how aggressive Facebook has been in defending its trademarks within the past, there’s little doubt that it will pursue unlicensed “face” users with atomic fury. Zuckerberg can be on the case of everyone using “face.” Even those who just are innocently creating a fun game, but don’t want to make money, will need to be careful. Kobo Abe who wrote “Face of Another” will have to be careful. Also, even John Travolta and Nicholas Cage in the movies “Face/Off” will need to watch their backs. See what difference face will make? There wouldn’t even be mercy for the Tleilaxu face dancer from the “Dune” books.
Additional reading
FACE
tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial and amp;entry=78980756
TechCrunch
techcrunch.com/2010/08/26/trademark-face/
Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trademark
