Facebook have made the first successful step towards getting the word “face” trademarked after the popular social network was granted a Notice of Allowance from trademark officails this week.
The social network started the ball roll two years ago with a view to trademarking both the words “face” and “book” however this week’s development signals a major step forward in Facebook’s aim to be granted an official trademark for their name.
Following this week’s Notice of Allowance, Facebook now have six months to file a statement of use to attest their use of the name for commerce purposes.
If Facebook succeed in having the words trademarked, this will spell bad news for any other organisations which use either “face” or “book” in their company name. According to the laws of trademark, any other business offering a telecommunication service which provides facilities such as online chat rooms, or electronic bulletin boards, will not be permitted to use either of these words in their official company name, should Facebook be granted a trademark.
Facebook are fiercely protective of their brand and name and have been fighting since 2008 to have their name trademarked. Earlier this year the social network sued another online social network for teachers known as Teachbook.com as they claimed the service were trading on the association with Facebook by using the word “book” in their name.
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