Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Facebook's Faces Trademark Suit Over Timeline

Posted by Soulskill on from the ask-the-traveler-for-help dept.

sydneyhype writes "Facebook's recently announced Timeline feature is up against legal action from an online social-scrapbooking company that has been in business since 2008. The company, Timelines.com, filed a trademark-infringement suit yesterday against Facebook, claiming it is to prevent being 'rolled over and quite possibly eliminated by the unlawful action by the world's largest and most powerful social-media company, Facebook.'"

4 of 83 comments (clear)

  1. In other news.. by monoqlith · · Score: 4, Insightful

    National Geographic, the band Ayreon, the band Rennaissance, MIT and, despite being dead, Michael Crichton have joined the suit.

  2. Help! Taco, come back to us! by utkonos · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You have left us at the mercy of trolls and idiots. Headlines don't even make sense anymore.

  3. Too generic by stephanruby · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The term "time line" is such a common generic term. I doubt their suit has any legal standing.

    If it did have legal standing, then we would see sites like Dictionary.com suing every site that had a dictionary, or Sex.com that sued every news site that had a sex carried column. It would freeze the Internet as we know it and all sites would be required to use pig latin to communicate (until most common pig latin terms are monopolized, and then we'd only be left with gibberish if we're lucky).

     

  4. 90% of slashdotters don't get it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This isn't about what Timelines.com does, nor is it about the common use of the word - you're all missing the point or don't understand trademarks.

    Timelines.com applied for and received the trademark on timelines (trademark number 85432026, look it up on http://tess2.uspto.gov/ ) therefore, in the US at least, they have the sole right to use that word in connection with the caveats on the mark (which includes pretty much anything to do with computers). If someone else, facebook or anyone comes along and uses that word, they have the right to tell them to stop. Otherwise - what's the point of trademarks? FFS I'm Australian and I know more about your trademark system than you guys do.

    If you want to argue about "common use" of the word, then it's the USPTO that you need to be directing your complaints too, not timelines.com