Facebook has been granted a trademark application for the word “Face” by the US Patent and Trade Office (USPTO).
The patent was overtaken from Faceparty.com and the USPTO has granted Facebook a Notice of Allowance, meaning Facebook needs to pay USPTO in the next three months in order to finalise it.
Facebook will also have to file a Statement of Use and actually use this trademark in commerce before it can legally claim the word “Face.”
The trademark covers the use of “face” in regards to “(t)elecommunication services, namely, providing online chat rooms and electronic bulletin boards for transmission of messages among computer users in the field of general interest and concerning social and entertainment subject matter, none primarily featuring or relating to motoring or to cars”.
This means that other social communication services online will not be able to include the word “Face” in their title.
However, it can be used for products outside of these limitations.
Interestingly, recent lawsuits against websites with similar names to Facebook have more been about the “book” bit of their names as opposed to the “Face” part.
Teachbook faced a lawsuit from the social networking giant for its teaching community website and humourous website Lamebook faced legal action over its name and the look of the site.
