Lamebook, a humourous site letting users post funny Facebook status updates and pictures, is suing Facebook, after the social networking giant threatened to sue them.
Jonathan Standefer and Matthew Genitempo, two graphic designers from Texas, founded the site in 2009. It highlights “lame” content from Facebook, such as embarrassing photos, awkward status updates and other amusing content.
After Facebook threatened to sue Lamebook, Lamebook filed a complaint for declaratory judgment, in order to seek a decision from the court stating there has been no infringement before the social networking site sues them.
According to a complaint found by TechCrunch, Facebook contacted Lamebook in March 2010, telling it to change its name and the look of the website, which is intentionally similar to Facebook’s.
However, after Lamebook consulted with its own lawyers, they found Facebook did not have a case, as Lamebook was a clear parody of Facebook and is protected under the First Amendment in the US constitution.
The complaint also notes Lamebook “does not offer social-networking services or functionality to its users” and, thus “does not compete with Facebook.”
In spite of this, Facebook continued to insist Lamebook should drop its look and name or face legal action.
As a result, Lamebook is bringing the issue to court to resolve it, to prove Lamebook is not infringing or violating any of Facebook’s rights.
It will be interesting to see if this case will be successful. Facebook has previously gone after sites with the prefix of “-book,” such as the case of Teachbook, a community website for teachers.
