Cybersquatting the Social Networks: A New Trademark Risk

WebProNews has recently published a couple alarming articles concerning name squatting on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. The author, Chris Crum, correctly notes in his article titled “Cybersquatting Goes Social” that cybersquatting continues to be a growing problem on the Internet (see Figure 1.).  However, he brings to light another growing problem that trademark owners face as cybersquatters partake in the unethical and illegal practice of registering trademark protected brands with the popular social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.  

  Figure 1. Wipo Domain Name Cases.

This may become a bigger issue in social media. Recently we looked at a Twitter account purchased by CNN (they actually acquired the "services" of the account holder...presumably to avoid the buying/selling of a Twitter account and breaking any terms of service).

That may not have been a case of cybersquatting exactly, but it's not hard to imagine it getting the wheels turning in the minds of the unethical. The same goes for Facebook Pages.

Chris Lynch at Inside Facebook recently discussed a Facebook page called "Brooklyn, New York," which is not owned by that city, but rather somebody trying to sell ads on it.  Lynch suggests that this could run counter to Facebook's Terms, which say:

Facebook Pages are special profiles used solely for commercial, political, or charitable purposes. You may not set up a Facebook Page on behalf of another individual or entity unless you are authorized to do so. This includes fan Facebook Pages, as well as Facebook Pages to support or criticize another individual or entity.

There are many Facebook Pages that are simply there to support brands, as mentioned in the terms. They're created by fans with no ill will. So what do you do if someone else has a page set up for your brand, assuming you don't want to wait on Facebook to sort it out?

Actually Inside Facebook's Justin Smith posted an article about this that we referenced at WebProNews a while back. Options you have include:
- Ask Facebook to transfer control of the Page to you

- Ask the Page owners to transfer control to you

- Ask the Page owner to share control with you

- Ask Facebook to shut the Page down

- Let the Page continue to exist, and start an "official" Page of your own

What trademark owners need to realize is that they must protect their brands on the internet or risk diminishing those brands and their trademark rights across the board.  A trademark attorney with experience in cybersquatting matters knows how the various policies work in the social networking realm, as well as which federal and state laws can be used to apply leverage to stop the cybersquatting cold.  Feel free to contact one of our domain dispute attorneys for more information.

Comments

[John D.]

I think that a court would find that Facebook canvas URLs would be subject to cybersquatting laws, even though they have held that subdirectories do not indicate a source-identifying function in the past. I think the nature of Facebook and the value of the canvas URLs shows that they do indicate source. It will be interesting to see what happens as Facebook apps become more established and cases develop.