Beware of cybersquatting on Facebook
Facebook has announced that it will begin offering personalised username URLs to its users. On a first-come, first-served basis commencing 13 June, 2009 Facebook users are able to register personalised domain names such as www.facebook.com/yourname for their Facebook pages. Previously, a user’s Facebook URL was comprised of randomly assigned numbers.
Nicholas Weston, the law firm behind the Australian Trade Marks Law Blog comments that offering such services is a new potential opportunity for trade marks infringers and cyber-squatters. These procedures may be abused by reserving your – or your client's - trade marks as their username and thereby hold themselves out as being affiliated with the genuine trade mark owner. For example, any particular user might register www.facebook.com/yourtrademark.
In anticipating that some of its users will want to set up URLs that include the trade marks of others, Facebook created an online form for trade marks owners to pre-emptively block people from including their registered trade marks in Facebook usernames but, apparently satisfied with that grand effort, closed this process within three days of its commencement.
Facebook still has an automated IP infringement form for those who wish to report that someone’s username infringes their trade marks rights. The complaint form is available at http://www.facebook.com/copyright.php?noncopyright_notice=1. For those who like to complain early and complain often, there is no cost to complain about trade mark rights being infringed using the online form.
