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Facebook Says It Owns 'Book'

Posted by samzenpus on from the first-book dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Chicago Tribune is reporting that Facebook has sued a tiny start-up called Teachbook.com over the use of 'book' in its name. The start-up, which has two employees, aims to provide tools for teachers to manage their classrooms and share lesson plans and other resources. 'Effectively they're bombing a mosquito here, and we're not sure why they want to do that,' Teachbook.com co-director Greg Shrader told the Tribune. Facebook said its use of 'book' in its name is 'highly distinctive in the context of online communities and networking websites.' Facebook apparently is alleging that no other online 'network of people' can use the word 'book' in its name without violating its trademark."

5 of 483 comments (clear)

  1. Prior Art by ImNotAtWork · · Score: 0, Troll

    Year book

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  2. You Fail by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 0, Troll

    I hope facebook looses a shit ton of money over this.

    Why? Facebook has a legitimate trademark issue. "TeachBook.com" is in fact a social networking website as is FaceBook.com. If you can't see the possible confusion / trademark issue, maybe it's because you are being intentionally ignorant. Look, I get it, you hate big mega corporations and think they should be stripped of all rights, even it they are rigghts that you yourself would insist on if you had the brains to be able to produce a popular product...

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  3. Re:reading it wrong. by Inda · · Score: 0, Troll

    No, only you, as the rest of us are educated.

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  4. Is Barnes & Noble next? by bgarcia · · Score: 0, Troll

    Do they know about book.com?

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  5. Re:Give Me A Break! by commodore64_love · · Score: 0, Troll

    Bottom Line:

    Facebook Corporation has turned microsoft... er, I mean... evil. Hopefully the 2-person teachbook partners will stand their ground, the judge will give the FB lawyer a very stern warning about patent trolling, and require said lawyer to repay all the teachers legal fees, or else be thrown in jail for violation of the SLAPP law.

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