In 2005, a UK firm called CIS Internet Limited applied for trademark of the word ‘face’ for their faceparty.com site. In 2008, the name on the CIS application was assigned to social networking behemoth Facebook. This week, the US Patent and Trademark Office granted Facebook a notice of allowance to trademark the word ‘face’ and thus each of us is one step closer to Mark Zuckerberg owning the reflection in our bathroom mirror.
Our future overlords now have six months to provide the trademark office folks with a statement of use (SOU), a sworn statement explaining Facebook’s use of the mark in the business world. But the company hasn’t sat around waiting for this tentative seal of approval in order to go after companies with ‘face’ in their names, such as Faceporn.
Of greater concern to the online gambling industry is Facebook’s antagonism toward companies with ‘book’ in their name, like Teachbook, Placebook and Lamebook. None of these sites are related to gambling, but we still wouldn’t want to be sportsbook.com right now. I mean, first the Commonwealth of Kentucky, now Zuckerberg? That’s piling on…
