New Facebook Username Policy Will Impact Trademark Rights

Facebook has announced that it will allow its users to register personalized user names on a first-come, first-serve basis. 

A Facebook user can now register a user name containing a trademark, which would be associated with that user’s Facebook profile. (facebook.com/username) 

For trademark owners, Facebook has a “Preventing the Registration of a Username” form to prevent someone from registering a trademark as a username.

The form is simple to complete requiring a company name, title, email address, the name of the trademark and registration number. By completing the form, it is presumed to prevent or block someone else from using the trademark as a user name.

In cases of disputes over filings, if an infringer registers a trademark before the owner, Facebook’s “Notice of Intellectual Property Infringement” form can be used.  More serious issues involving an effort to block a trademark owner from using its own mark as a user name, may be addressed by also filling out the Notice of Intellectual Property Infringement form and providing as many details as known.  At this time it is not known how Facebook will deal with the more serious or complicated disputes.

While Facebook has developed a process for dealing with infringing user names after they are registered, trademark owners may find that it may make sense to spend the time to complete the forms and make such filings with Facebook now rather than wait for a third party to register the trademark as a username.  This effort will give the trademark owner the most certain and least expensive course of action.

Please contact us if you require assistance protecting your trademark(s) from being registered as a username or if you have any questions concerning the Facebook process.