Act quickly to save face - Trade Mark owners to get busy
From 5am on Saturday June 13 (GMT) Facebook users were able to pick a username to form the new URL of their Facebook Page. Once accepted their new URL will appear as follows:
www.facebook.com/username
The usernames will be made available on a first come, first served basis and so this poses the potential problem for businesses that someone will register their Trade Mark as a Facebook username before they do.
Thankfully Facebook, aware of such potential Trade Mark infringements have put in place the following safeguards.
First, for a Facebook user to be able to register a username in the first place they must meet two requirements. Their Facebook page must have been live on Facebook prior to the 31st May 2009 and they must have a minimum of 1,000 fans as of that cut-off date.
This safeguard has been aimed at preventing “squatting” or abuse of usernames. It stops people creating new Facebook pages just to be able to register Trade Marks as Facebook usernames before their legal owners.
Unfortunately, some such squatters/abusers may have more than 1,000 fans and so the ability of this to prevent squatting or abuse of usernames is relatively weak.
Enter the second safeguard. In order to bolster protection for businesses with registered Trade Marks Facebook have set up a form which Trade Mark owners can fill out in order to declare themselves as the legally registered owners of a Trade Mark and prevent others from using it as a Facebook username.
This form can be accessed by clicking on the following link: Facebook Form
The system here is not without problems but notifying Facebook of your rights is a good first step to protecting your brand.
If you would like to discuss this matter or any other Trade Mark issues with us, please do not hesitate to get in contact. You can get in touch with our Trade Mark specialists directly via Trade Marks.
This article was provided courtesy of Briffa
www.facebook.com/username
The usernames will be made available on a first come, first served basis and so this poses the potential problem for businesses that someone will register their Trade Mark as a Facebook username before they do.
Thankfully Facebook, aware of such potential Trade Mark infringements have put in place the following safeguards.
First, for a Facebook user to be able to register a username in the first place they must meet two requirements. Their Facebook page must have been live on Facebook prior to the 31st May 2009 and they must have a minimum of 1,000 fans as of that cut-off date.
This safeguard has been aimed at preventing “squatting” or abuse of usernames. It stops people creating new Facebook pages just to be able to register Trade Marks as Facebook usernames before their legal owners.
Unfortunately, some such squatters/abusers may have more than 1,000 fans and so the ability of this to prevent squatting or abuse of usernames is relatively weak.
Enter the second safeguard. In order to bolster protection for businesses with registered Trade Marks Facebook have set up a form which Trade Mark owners can fill out in order to declare themselves as the legally registered owners of a Trade Mark and prevent others from using it as a Facebook username.
This form can be accessed by clicking on the following link: Facebook Form
The system here is not without problems but notifying Facebook of your rights is a good first step to protecting your brand.
If you would like to discuss this matter or any other Trade Mark issues with us, please do not hesitate to get in contact. You can get in touch with our Trade Mark specialists directly via Trade Marks.
This article was provided courtesy of Briffa