Does anyone have an up to date insight into what can and cannot be used in wording within a social network website along the lines of 'like' - 'face' and 'book'?
I'm in a position to use a very high level domain name consisting of 2 words - 'something'book.com
Of course, the initial idea sounds like an interesting one on several levels.. but then would I be just setting myself up for a legal threat from the FB suits.
Here's an interesting article, although over a year old. It mentions FB including a 'twist' to their t&c that can be enforced legally 'if' you have a FB account and have therefore agreed to their T&C's!
At the time of the article, (for those who don't want to read) they did NOT have TM/R on the word 'book' although had been trying to enforce it. So, they added it to the T&C as follows...
“You will not use our copyrights or trademarks (including Facebook, the Facebook and F Logos, FB, Face, Poke, Book and Wall), or any confusingly similar marks, except as expressly permitted by our Brand Usage Guidelines or with our prior written permission.”
Basically, the above words as they are included in the T&C, - if you use FB you agree not to use those words elsewhere.
So if you have a website and the word 'wall' or 'like' for example (2 more common to Dolphin) - you are breaking the user agreement with FB (if you even have an account there) and are therefore liable to legal action!
Same for the word 'book' even though they do not have a trademark on it for social networking use!
Gits.
Any thoughts?
Not sure if this has changed in the last year.
I recently purchased the domain 'aidbay' for a charity, and within 2 days of purchase had legal threats from ebay.
These monopolistic firms do not mess around.
