Facebook Sues Teachbook for using the word "Book"
Aug
27
Written by:
2010/08/27 09:22 AM
It seems that when you get as big and powerful as Facebook that the God complex is inevitable. Facebook have started proceedings to sue a very small social network group, Teachbook for using the word “Book”
The social networking giant, Facebook, with more than a half-billion users worldwide, filed a complaint in a California court Wednesday about the not-yet-operational site, Teachbook, for trademark infringement.
The beginning of the suit reads:
Facebook has become a worldwide social, cultural and political phenomenon. With fame comes imitation. Here, Defendant Teachbook.com LLC rides on the coattails of the fame and enormous goodwill of the FACEBOOK trademark. Misappropriating the distinctive BOOK portion of Facebook's trademark, Defendant has created its own competing online networking community in a blatant attempt to become Facebook "for Teachers." Despite Facebook's protests, Defendant has willfully and deliberately persisted in its misappropriation of the Facebook brand, forcing Facebook to protect its user community and the strength of the Famous FACEBOOK trademark through this action.
It’s a David and Goliath story. I mean really what does Facebook have to fear. Teachbook is hardly a threat, or is it?. With 6.5 million teachers in the US, and who knows how many from around the world, they could see themselves grow quite substantially. But really, Facebook has published over 500 million users. Hardly a contest, don’t you think?
Teachbook, is a community for teachers where users can share lesson plans, get advice, and connect with other educators.
This also raises the question, will other companies that use the words “Face” and “Book” in their company name also be sued. What about some one trying their hand at social networking and using the word “Book” in their title, Like “BookClub”, or "Faceoff".
I guess the question is, is Teachbook a copycat of Facebook. I’m positive that they are not the only ones out there. So then why the big fuss?
What do you think? Are you like me who thinks it’s totally ridiculous or do you think Facebook have a right to do so? Do you think they should?
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