

Facebook says it owns "book", suing startups using [generic]book.tld - ck2
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-0826-facebook-suit-20100825,0,2104101,print.story

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pixelbath
Since "facebook" is already a generic term for "a reference book or electronic
directory made up of individuals' photographs and names," I don't see how they
can make much of a strong branding claim (though I will certainly agree that
"Facebook" is a more popular usage than "facebook").

I'd be hard-pressed to think of this as anything except poor planning when
choosing the name. This is not really a case of brand dilution like Xerox,
Scotch Tape, or Band-Aids. Guess you should have thought of that earlier,
Zuck?

<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/facebook>

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ck2
In fact, part of their success ironically is _because_ of the generic nature
of their name.

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chopsueyar
How so?

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almost
In all fairness it seems like they're trying to say that they own
[generic]book.tld in the context of social networks. Teachbook.com sounds like
it's a social network for Teachers and is possibly using its name to say "Hey,
we're like the Facebook of teachers". It's be like if we decided that Hacker
News needed a social network and decided to call it Hackerbook.com

Not sure I agree with Facebook's actions here, but they're hardly saying what
the headline claims.

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chime
If GodTube.com, a religion-centric video site can exist, then so can
TeachBook. I don't see how any company can own generic words when used as part
of a phrase, even when the industry is the same. I can certainly create a
company called MicroChime or YouChime or ChimeSoft.

~~~
lionhearted
> If GodTube.com, a religion-centric video site can exist, then so can
> TeachBook.

Arguably, Youtube has lost its claim on "tube" by not defending its trademark:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genericized_trademark#Avoiding_...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genericized_trademark#Avoiding_genericide)

If Youtube had sent cease and desist letters to Godtube and other "-tubes",
and escalated to court if the person hadn't ceased and desisted, it probably
would have worked. (This doesn't get into the morality or cool/uncoolness or
business strategy or PR aspects of it, it's just trademark law)

> I don't see how any company can own generic words when used as part of a
> phrase, even when the industry is the same.

Actually, that's exactly what a trademark is. Owning generic words and
phrasings in the same industry.

> I can certainly create a company called MicroChime or YouChime or ChimeSoft.

Debatable. MicroChime would probably be okay if you sold small chimes. If you
sold operating systems and business software, you'd absolutely get a cease and
desist, and you'd almost certainly lose if it went to court. Again, this
doesn't get into the morality of it, just how trademarks generally work these
days.

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tptacek
This was discussed at some length yesterday:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1633106>

Long story short: PerfumeBay lost a case for diluting eBay's trademark;
Victor's Little Secret lost a case to Victoria's Secret; Charbucks appears to
be on its way to losing to Starbucks. Famous marks can (and may be obligated
to) defend themselves against dilution from similar (but not identical) marks.

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krschultz
How can I possibly distinguish between Coca- _Cola_ and Pepsi- _Cola_?

If only PepsiCo had been sued out of existence about 50 years ago for
"trademark" infringment, we would never had this problem.

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hapless
By the time Pepsi came along, "Cola" was already a generic term. The guy who
invented "Cola" drinks failed to trademark the name (in connection to drinks,
as opposed to plants).

He died in obscurity. Maybe if he'd sued Coke at its inception, he could have
been as famous as Pemberton.

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chopsueyar
Really? I thought it was called Cola because of Kola.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kola_nut>

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kno
In retrospect Microsoft could sue any company with soft in their name; God
knows how many software companies use the suffix Soft. What Facebook is doing
is simply not positive.

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eli
No, they can't because, as you say, there are now many companies using that
suffix. If they had gone after companies earlier (as facebook appears to be
doing) they might have a case.

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some1else
That sounds ridiculous. They have the facebook trademark protection, and
that's pretty much what they can enforce. And even that's sometimes not enough
to enforce a wide range exclusivity. For instance, titles of books can contain
the word facebook, and can only be prevent a publisher from using the facebook
logo on the cover, but screenshots on the inside pages containing it should be
publishable. Afaik all the evicted antisemitic groups could form a social
network called hatebook, and they wouldn't be infringing if they used a
different typeface and overall identity. IANAL, but trademark law is pretty
straightforward. This reminds me of <http://www.eolas.com/>, got to love how
they troll about their (e) trademark and all the software patents.

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vColin
Looking at my list of domains there are:

    
    
      * 118152 com domains ending in "book"
      * 14450 net domains ending in "book"
      * 8666 org domains ending in "book"
    

which is going to require a lot of litigation.

Even narrowing it down to domains ending in "book" with "face" somewhere in
the domain, there are:

    
    
      * 6175 com domains
      * 691 net domains
      * 389 org comains
    

Where to draw the line?

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chopsueyar
The real problem is their offsite "Like" button and other offsite widgets.

It is too easy to have these on a site, and users will think it is
sanctioned/blessed by Facebook.

This effect is much more significant when the domain name ends in book.[tld].

This is a double-edged sword brought on by their success and operation.

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spoiledtechie
Well its sort of good to know. I was planning on using book in one of my new
domain names... Ugh. Now I have to find a new name??

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bwanab
It'll be fun to see them go after the CIA World Factbook.

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redstar504
Not going to happen unless they decide to make it into a social network.

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Kilimanjaro
I just registered Phasebook, bring in the lawyers!

