Facebook Brand Name Protection
06-17-09
If you haven’t reserved your personal name or Trademark on Facebook yet, now is the time. Facebook has changed their policy and now allows users to protect their name and other handles they are using. Present users/members get to protect themselves now, where new users will soon be allowed to apply for user names that present users wanted to use but may not have reserved them yet – so do so now!
There are people who are concerned that Facebook needs to spell out whether or not there will be an alternative option for legitimate brands who have their names taken by Facebook users. I personally believe Trademark laws will over ride any private social media companies use of government protected Trademarks. Just like ICANN does with internet domain names.
Ensure your brand name is controlled by you by reserving it now (even if you will develop a Facebook profile later, at least secure it with a minimum presence). New users to Facebook will start reserving their user names June 28, 2009.
Facebook has a direct link for those Trademark owners to fill out to over turn someone already squatting on your brand’s title. Go to the Facebook site and fill out the form if your name/Trademark is alrady seized and request removal, as this will prevent individuals from using your trademarked name after the fact. It will be interesting to see how this actually plays out, but when in Rome…
The worse-case scenario is that you have to hire a lawyer to file against the party that is infringing upon your Trademark, so save yourself some money and do the above at every social media site on the world wide web. Then you can rest assured that only authorized Trademark owners are using their brand names .
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Tags: facebook, Sandford Tuey, Trademarks, Tuey