Wednesday, November 24, 2010

"Patent Office Agrees To Facebook’s 'Face' Trademark"

"Facebook is just a payment away from trademarking the word 'Face.' As of today the U.S. Patent And Trademark Office has sent the social networking site a Notice of Allowance, which means they have agreed to grant the 'Face' trademark to Facebook.

"All Facebook needs to do is pay the issue fee within three months of today and the 'Face' trademark will be issued and be published in the official USPTO gazette and everything."

http://techcrunch.com/2010/11/23/patent-office-agrees-to-facebooks-face-trademark/

That's right, they'll own the word "Face." I don't know if it has to be capitalized. I have a difficult time understanding things like this. I think I have some grasp of intellectual property, but I don't comprehend how someone can trademark a common word. Are they going to trademark "book" next? Can I trademark "the" and make a gajillion dollars? Why am I posting such a great idea online?

7 comments:

OrbsCorbs said...

Face. Face. Face. Face. Face. Face.

I wonder how much I owe them?

hale-bopp said...

That's a real facepalm!

SER said...

A few years back Harley Owners Group tried to patent the word HOG and they where turned down.

Orbs...now you cannot say, "I got egg in my Face" anymore!

OrbsCorbs said...

Well, it looks like Facebook already has the trademark on 'Face,' they just have to pay a fee, post a notice, and call something 'Face.'

I don't know if I can face this. I feels like I'd be losing face if only Facebook can say Face. I don't like their in-your-face attitude, either.

kkdither said...

I think we can still say face whenever we choose, we just can't sell or represent anything that is called or named face.

Makes me wonder if Oprah trademarked the letter, "O" which is the name of her magazine?

I remember a long time ago, someone in Racine painted Mickey Mouse and characters on their garage door. It was very elaborate and extremely well done. Disney caught whiff of it and made them remove it.

I still think we need our lawyers to look into that Japanese Tobacco Industry logo they are using.... hmmmm.

Anonymous said...

Remember Pinnochio's on the corner of Greenbay and 20? Cheesy murals of Disney characters on all the walls which I am sure was not allowed. I liked that greasy little dig though!

OrbsCorbs said...

You're probably right - they probably were infringing on Disney's trademark just with the name Pinocchio's. I liked their burgers, too. And the ones at the old A&W on 12th St.

I've heard before that Disney is very protective of their rights. McDonald's, too.