Facebook offers trade mark owners username reservation opportunity

On Tuesday 9 June 2009,  Facebook, Inc., a social networking website company based in the United States, publicly announced that beginning Saturday 13 June at 12.01am US EDT, users of the Facebook website will be allowed for the first time to create personalized URLs for their Facebook pages (facebook.com/yourname).

Facebook, Inc. has created an online form for trade marks owners interested in preventing their trade marks from being registered as usernames by Facebook users.

‘This new opportunity is important for trade mark owners. Facebook was once for personal use but now it has moved into the business sphere,’ said Celia Davies, Partner, Trade Marks. ‘Registration is important for two reasons. Firstly, business can secure its right to use its trade marks, so it can do business on Facebook. Secondly, it stops others taking well known brands and using them for other purposes.’

Trade mark owners can reserve their trade mark on the Facebook platform by submitting relevant information to Facebook, Inc. through their trade mark protection contact form.¹ This form is available to be filed now.

Facebook reserves the right to remove and/or reclaim any username at any time for any reason. Once usernames are registered, if you wish to report to Facebook that someone’s username infringes your intellectual property rights, Facebook has set up an IP infringement form.

‘Clients can now get security around their own brands to stop others using them,’ concluded Ms Davies. ‘People should register now because it will be difficult in the future to get back your trade mark if someone takes it. It also removes the possibility of its misuse. Once you’ve registered it, your business can then go on and develop the trade mark for legitimate business reasons.’

If you have further questions or concerns, please see Facebook’s Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page.²

Please contact our Trade Marks team if you would like us to assist you with filing a trade mark protection form.

This article was written by Catherine Jouguelet, Senior Associate and Frances Drummond, Partner, Sydney.

Endnotes

1. Facebook trade mark protection form
2. Facebook's FAQ page

More information

For information regarding possible implications for your business, contact a member of the Trade Marks team.