What Does The New Facebook Personalized URLs Mean For Trademark Owners
By Robert C. Cumbow
June 15, 2009
On June 12, 2009, Facebook, the online social networking site, began allowing its millions of users to create personalized URLs for their Facebook pages. These personalized "usernames" may incorporate trademarks that are already in use.
Allowing your trademark to be used as a Facebook username could dilute the value of the mark and your ability to protect it. Facebook has recognized this, and is providing a method by which trademark owners can call their registered trademarks to Facebook's attention. While it is not yet clear how Facebook decides which trademarks are to be entitled to protection, the aim of the program is for qualifying trademarks to be protected from being registered as usernames by Facebook users. Facebook also has a mechanism whereby a trademark owner who mark does get registered as a Facebook username can request that Facebook take corrective action.
Click here to view the Facebook trademark registration form.
For more information on protecting your trademark, contact one of our trademark attorneys: Robert Cumbow (rcumbow@grahamdunn.com); Kathleen Petrich (kpetrich@grahamdunn.com); and Michael Atkins (matkins@grahamdunn.com).
