If you want to use the word 'face' in the US, you will, in the future, have to be aware of the context in which you use it. If it is in connection with tele-communication, chat and texting between computers in a social or entertainment-network, you might have to think twice.
Facebook has applied to gaincopyright trademark of the word 'Face' and they have now recieved a green light from the United States Patent Office (USPTO). All the social networking service needs to do, is pay a fee within three months.
However, other than this criteria, Facebook has to prove that they have a product bound to the word "Face" where the name 'Facebook' is not enough. They will have to apply for a "Statement of Use" [http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=78980756], where they prove that they use the word ('face') in business correlations - within six months of having been granted thecopyright trademark.
If they do that, however, there shouldn't be anything else stopping from actually owning a word. (In a sense. It might be slightly exaggareted, but this would mean that any website having the words 'face' in the name could get sued, depending on contents of the site. I.E: The facebook of sex).
So, how's that for a kick in the head, eh? Someone has actually been granted acopyright trademark over a word.
I thought it was crazy when apple tried to apply for the word 'Pod', but actually patenting a word as normal as face just seems crazy.
On a different note; if you could patent any word in the English dictionary, what would it be?
Sources: here [http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_technews/20101124/tc_yblog_technews/facebook-poised-to-trademark-the-word-face] and here [http://slashdot.org/story/10/11/24/2040247/Facebook-To-Own-the-Word-Face]
Facebook has applied to gain
However, other than this criteria, Facebook has to prove that they have a product bound to the word "Face" where the name 'Facebook' is not enough. They will have to apply for a "Statement of Use" [http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=78980756], where they prove that they use the word ('face') in business correlations - within six months of having been granted the
If they do that, however, there shouldn't be anything else stopping from actually owning a word. (In a sense. It might be slightly exaggareted, but this would mean that any website having the words 'face' in the name could get sued, depending on contents of the site. I.E: The facebook of sex).
So, how's that for a kick in the head, eh? Someone has actually been granted a
I thought it was crazy when apple tried to apply for the word 'Pod', but actually patenting a word as normal as face just seems crazy.
On a different note; if you could patent any word in the English dictionary, what would it be?
Sources: here [http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_technews/20101124/tc_yblog_technews/facebook-poised-to-trademark-the-word-face] and here [http://slashdot.org/story/10/11/24/2040247/Facebook-To-Own-the-Word-Face]
