Facebook Lays Claim to ‘Book’ – and They’ll Sue You To Keep It That Way
“We’ve been sitting here scratching our heads for the last couple of days,” says Greg Schrader, managing director of Teachbook.com. Greg’s head does not have an itch.
In an puzzling move, Facebook has decided it owns ‘book’, and has subsequently filed a lawsuit against Teachbook, an Illinois-based company that provides online tools for teachers to manage and share resources.
Right away, I guess that sounds pretty reasonable. Teachbook does seem to be playing off Facebook’s popularity, and Facebook tends to agree. “If others could freely use ‘generic plus BOOK’ marks for online networking services targeted to that particular generic category of individuals,” says the lawsuit, “the suffix BOOK could become a generic term for ‘online community/networking services’ or ’social networking services’. That would dilute the distinctiveness of the Facebook Marks.”
Aight, Facebook. That’s cool. I get that. But consider that Teachbook, as of yet, has two employees, and less than 20 users. If this lawsuit was a kung fu stance, it would be called ‘ornery rhinoceros crushes grape’. Something tells me they’re not exactly going to take a bite out of your user base just yet.
“We’re trying to understand how Facebook, a multibillion-dollar company, feels this small enterprise in Chicago is any type of threat,” says Schrader. He believes that the term ‘book’ is a perfect fit for a website centered around education. And he’s not wrong. You’re not wrong, Schrader.
The chances of this ending well for Teachbook are slim to none; though, that this lawsuit has been given so much attention is a bit of an edge for the David to Facebook’s Goliath – that is, of course, if users agree.
Do you? Is Facebook right to protect its neck by going after any site using the suffix ‘book’? Apple’s never bothered to stem the tide of i-prefixed products, why should Facebook get butthurt? Take a walk to the comment box and weigh in.
Max
This is ridiculous. I can’t believe a bunch of silver-spoon man-children are trying to do such a thing to little company. Don’t get me wrong, if I were to say launch some site that ripped off facebook’s design, not to mention their convoluted UI, and call it something similar to facebook, I would expect some repercussions. However, a teaching website with the word book in the title… imagine that!
And, now they all of a sudden think they can lay claim to a word?! Just because George Lucas owns the word “Droid” doesn’t mean you can pull it off, Zuckerberg & co.
Robert
Facebook, what a arrogance, Zuck sucks, he his a complete idiot and, my granfather once told me, Rob do you want to know the essence of people? “Give the power” they will show they real truth, and it shows that Facebook it is a real jerks site I HOPE IT BLOWS IN YOUR FACE Zuck
Marian
Is it too late for Google to lay claim to the name “mail”? Maybe Microsoft should claim that “bing” can no longer be used to describe cherries or as the prefix to “go”. And who owns “.com”? That needs looking into. Fb longs to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, and they’ll succeed, as new social networks come along. They should concern themselves with this situation, not whether their competitors (and non-competitors) choose to use the suffix “book.”