Facebook Gets Nod To Trademark 'Face'

[somone]

http://www.informationweek.com/news/telecom/business/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228400047&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_News

Facebook Gets Nod To Trademark 'Face'
By getting permission from U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Facebook moves closer to adding a legal weapon for protecting its name from upstart social networks.
By Antone Gonsalves, InformationWeek

Facebook, which has never hesitated to go after companies it believes were trying to leverage its name recognition, has received the go-ahead to trademark the word "face."

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday issued a Notice of Allowance that essentially says that based on an examination of the social-networking site's request, the company is entitled to a trademark on "face," as it applies to the name Facebook. To get final approval, Facebook now has to file a Statement of Use that says it will use the trademark in commerce.

Approval of the trademark would give Facebook one more legal weapon as it battles other companies that use either "face" or "book" in their names. The trademark would only apply to Facebook's business as a provider of "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." Facebook's effort to trademark "face" goes back to 2008, when the company bought the trademark application of Faceparty.com, a U.K. social-networking site that launched in 2000 and applied for a trademark of "face" in 2005.

Facebook has gone after several companies that it believes were trying to piggyback on its popularity through its name. In August, the company sued Teachbook in federal court in San Jose, Calif., over its use of the word "book." Teachbook is a social network for teachers. That same month, travel Web site Placebook changed its name to TripTrace after being contacted by Facebook. More recently, Lamebook, which has built an online parody of Facebook that contains funny comments and pictures found on the site, sued Facebook as a preemptive legal strike. The suit followed months of failed negotiations. Facebook countersued within days.

[NightWatcher]

1. quick, I've got dibs on the word "the". There! I 've trademarked it

and you've just used it more than 9 times without my permission. In fact, I think I'll take the letter "e" whilst I'm at it.

haha

[dipsydoodle]

2. I wonder if they'll trademark .

Sitonmyfacebook too. :shrug:

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. So Amazon can't advertise "books" anymore?

or "netbooks" or notebooks"

Can I still use a checkbook?

And the North Face company is in trouble? ( or did that company go bankrupt?)

What abut my soap, Kiss My Face, that I have been using for 30 years?

Can the military marches still include "about face"?

Corporation law is SO complicated.

[ixion]

4. Oy. Stupid patent office.

seriously.

[NuclearDem]

5. I've got dibbs on stupid

As in, "the patent office is stupid"
Or, "Mark Zuckerburg, you are stupid"

[eppur_se_muova]

6. I've always thought "Facebook" was a rather ugly name.

Kind of dehumanizing -- like "all you are to us is a face".

[NICO9000]

7. Oh fer crissakes!

Hey, I have a face too! Maybe I should sue Zuckerberg for copyright infringement.

Once again, this makes me glad I've never joined the Facebook "community"...

[no_hypocrisy]

8. We'll see what the A-Team has to say about this . . . .

[Tikki]

9. Sorry Bookwhatever..this FACE belongs to the future...

Face of Boe


Tikki

[eppur_se_muova]

10. Worse things have happened ...

http://www.theonion.com/articles/microsoft-patents-ones-zeroes,599/

[KamaAina]

11. That's it. I'm opening an Internet cafe/restaurant called "McFace".

:P

[Speck Tater]

12. So now we all must use a different word like mug, countenance, kisser, pan (as in dead pan),...

Either that or we need to invent a new word for face.

I nominate "mukha" the Pilipino word for "face".

Let's see how it works: "Wipe that silly grin off your mukha!" "But do you have the guts to tell him that to his mukha?" "She's got the mukha of an angel." "Dude, friend me on Mukha Book!"

Yup. That works.

[dipsydoodle]

13. Dount if they'll tm Faecesbook

.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

14. Oh shit, look out phonebook ...yellowbook ...notebook

oh my what a mess...

sP

[Supply Side Jesus]

15. i get "fuck"

hell ya, $.05 every-time it's used!