
Facebook Announces Settlement of Legal Dispute With Aaron Greenspan - jasonlbaptiste
http://www.insidefacebook.com/2009/05/22/facebook-announces-settlement-of-legal-dispute-with-another-former-zuckerberg-classmate/
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mhartl
_However, in 2005, Facebook was awarded a trademark for the term “Facebook” by
the USPTO. Facebook was then awarded a second trademark in 2006. Greenspan had
since filed petitions to have the USPTO revoke both of Facebook’s trademarks,
saying he had used the term first._

This is all a little ridiculous. "Facebook" has for years been used as a slang
term for the Harvard Freshman Register, which contains headshots of the
members of the incoming class. When every dorm room comes equipped with a T1
Ethernet jack, putting the Facebook online is about as forehead-slappingly
obvious as you can get.

The first time someone---a much more recent grad---asked me if I was in "The
Facebook" (meaning the website), I was deeply confused, and asked "You have a
1992 Facebook?" The reply was full of pity: "No, it's a website", and I could
hear in her voice, _And you must be old!_

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rms
Congrats Aaron! Ignore the haters.

Lest we rehash an unnecessary, counter-productive, and very mean-spirited
discussion, here it is. <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=505291>.

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jrockway
Thanks for the link.

I remember reading that, and thinking that Aaron was an idiot that I should
hate. Now that I have thought about the issue for a while, and read more about
it, I don't feel that way at all. I am glad I didn't say anything in that
thread.

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daveambrose
Aaron, if you're reading this, I have a question for you from this release:
what happened?

Was it just a verbal/written confirmation that you did, in fact, contribute to
FB from Zuck, or was there an exhange of some monetary value for the resolve?

~~~
gojomo
The Facebook release is worded like it was carefully negotiated:

<http://www.facebook.com/press/releases.php?p=102338>

It's likely the settlement limits further discussion of the matter by the
parties, other than pointing people to negotiated statements like the Facebook
press release.

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aston
It's rare to have the plaintiff as an active member of your community. Any
comments, thinkcomp, or is this a hush-hush type of settlement?

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adrianwaj
To hell with the idea stealers, I encounter them all the time. F%%%ing
thieves.

But hey, for $65 million something can be arranged!

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agentbleu
Thumbs up aaron, was well smelly and good that you get something for your
contribution.

