- within Law Department Performance, Insurance and Consumer Protection topic(s)
- with Inhouse Counsel
- in Canada
- with readers working within the Business & Consumer Services industries
Facebook, the social networking website, has announced that beginning at 12:01 a.m. EDT on June 13, 2009, Facebook users will be able to create personalized usernames for their Facebook pages. The names will appear as "facebook.com/yourname".
Some Facebook users may attempt to incorporate third-party
trademarks into their usernames. In light of this risk, Facebook is
providing an online procedure for brand owners to prevent their
trademarks from being registered as Facebook usernames. The
procedure may be accessed at
www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=username_rights.
A separate procedure must be executed for each trademark for which protection is sought.
Brand holders must act by no later than Friday, June 12, 2009 at 11:59 p.m. EDT to take advantage of the procedure before the new personalized username system is made available.
After this deadline expires, it appears that intellectual property rights holders may object to any infringing activities through a complaint procedure that can be accessed at www.facebook.com/copyright.php?noncopyright_notice=1.
For further information, please visit www.facebook.com/help.php?page=899
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
