Established companies worry that firms with similar monikers could weaken their brands
Well-known companies including Facebook Inc. are increasingly bringing trademark-infringement claims in their efforts to block startups and others from using similar names, some trademark lawyers and law professors told speaking to Wall street Journal.
Engineers Kyle Clark, 35 years old, and Aaron Pollak, 30, decided over a beer at a Burlington, Vt., restaurant last year to name their new venture Designbook, after the brown notebooks engineering students use to document projects.
But Designbook ran into an unexpected snag last month when social-networking giant Facebook Inc. filed an objection to its name with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Facebook said that Designbook would infringe on the company’s trademark, confuse consumers and dilute its brand.
A spokeswoman for Facebook added that, as the owner of multiple famous trademarks, Facebook takes seriously its responsibility to reasonably protect its trademarks and prevent consumer confusion. (WSJ)
