Slashdot Mirror
Facebook To Own the Word "Face"
Dthief writes "The US Patent And Trademark Office has sent Facebook a Notice of Allowance, which means it will grant the 'Face' trademark to the popular social networking site. Facebook now has three months to pay an issue fee before they officially own the word. From the article: 'For all intents and purposes today's status update bodes well for Facebook's hold over 'face' usages in 'Telecommunication services, namely, providing online chat rooms and electronic bulletin boards for transmission of messages among computer users in the field of general interest and concerning social and entertainment subject matter, none primarily featuring or relating to motoring or to cars.''"
My super rich application, FaceSuite, complete with all the regular knacks, FaceDrafting, FaceSpreadsheet, FaceChat, FaceMediaPlayer, and my ultimate favourite, FaceFace Designer - will need to be rehashed and trademarks changed?
Didn't they sue someone over the use of the word "Book" (teachersbook) or something like that? This was a common phrase to apply to a year book. This kind of stuff is just beyond me...nobody should be able to own common words or letters.
FacePalm!
I want to own the word "bird"..
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
It's a sad day, we now know that Mark Zuckerberg has the trademark on AssFace and FuckFace. Well, I guess we knew that already anyways.
Facetime?
of Facetime?
Face time
Giving face
Getting face
Face the music
Face off
This is supremely retarded.
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Face.com may be forced to remove their Facebook like box.
This might not cause that much trouble, because when you *register* a trademark (as in (R)) you have to specify what business the mark will be used in and it's limited to that. A non-registered trademark (as in TM) is harder to defend but has a lot more wiggle room for the trademark holder. IANAL but I'll continue using the word "Face" w/o worrying, unless I'm building a social networking web site.
This is like a slap in the face to the public!
Wait, what do you mean I owe Mark Zuckerberg a thousand dollars for this slashdot comment?
Does the ruling include Facetime?
So much for facebukkake.com...
I suppose it's the same people, but the word is trademark. And proper nouns are what trademarks are for -- the word you're looking for is "common noun."
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
There was no precedent, Microsoft paid Lindows to shut up and change their name out of court.
There's a great comment on TFA that really nails is. I'm reproducing it here for convenience:
All your face are belong to Mark Zuckerberg.
"face" in a telecomunications context. Such as "interface"? Someone needs to beat them in the face with a clue stick.
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No. First, you can't trademark everything - there are limits built into the system. Second, trademarks can be ruled invalid or lost through non-use. Third, trademarks are targeted at industry and not the public.
That's the big one and I'm constantly confused as to why people demand protections from the commercial sector but then rant and rampage when it's given to them. If you want to open your own website for family use and you call it FacetoFacewithUnity100 - that's allowed! If you want to call it FaceofMe and include thousands of pictures of your face...thats allowed! If you load it up with ads, call it FaceBoook and post links all over the 'net trying to get people to accidentally click - thats a commercial action, it's fraudulant, and it's not allowed. Trademark is designed to keep the public safe. Sure it benefits industry too, but ultimatly it's about ensuring we know where our products come from and can make informed decisions when selecting them. If some company owns Face in telecommunications, and another in cooking, and another in porn...it doesn't limit my use of the term in any way unless I go into business...and that's a whole different ball-game.
who thinks he has a trademark on Face."
A friend of Templeton Peck.
I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
I think the rage is more about the over-reaching grab for everything - it's not that they want "Facebook" they want Face{EVERYTHING} (and {EVERYTHING}book) - and these words are often used as part of a larger word or phrase, for example (just some normal words that are in use, let alone "created" words like facebook):
Let's *ace it, *ace is a pretty common word or syllable, and claiming otherwise is a bald-*aced lie. Same with *ook! LittleBlack*ook.com is probably in trouble (given Teach*ook is in court), the GoReadA*ook.org foundation is up *hit creek ... and where shall it stop?
The nuttiest thing about this is that "facebook" is a common noun. It's not used in all areas as a synonym for "yearbook", but it is in some.
Before Facebook, a facebook was simply a compilation of pictures of members of a class to allow them to get to know each other.
Basically, if you have money, there is a different (self-made) law for you. It's basically might makes right, but with only the threat of violence as opposed to actual bloodshed.
I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
Facial. Peter North is not pleased.
I still cannot find the droids I am looking for...
I don't know how International trademark claims work but I doubt that this is going to be applicable in the UK on the basis that use of the word "face" in the title of a social networking site predates Facebook.
UK social networking site Faceparty: launched 2000
US* social networking site Facebook: launched 2004
*(later international)
Secondly, I understand how "Facebook" can be a trademark, I understand how the Facebook logo/logo-type can be a trademark, but how can "Face" be trademarked. It just seems stupid. What next? Is G.E. going to trademark the letter G? Slashdot trademark the word "Slash"? Microsoft trademark the word "Micro"?
"created" words like facebook
Actually, facebook is a real word. Not created at all. It's like a college yearbook, but created and distributed with contact info, allowing people to contact each other in college and potentially after they've graduated. "Facebook (R)" is just a facebook on the web (which morphed into a social network, and added people who aren't in college).