On June 9, 2009, Facebook, Inc., the popular social networking website company, announced that as of one minute past midnight tonight (EDT), existing users will be allowed to register “vanity” URLs- essentially Facebook web addresses customized with the username of their choice- such as “http://www.facebook.com/domainlegalcounsel”. In order to obtain a vanity name, the Facebook page holder must have at least 1,000 fans as of the end of May 2009 and the user name must be at least five alphanumeric characters in length. This is apparently being allowed so that it will be easier for people to find Facebook user profiles and may also be used as a tool for putting a personalized Facebook URL on business cards, in emails or attached to other useful marketing materials.
With more than 200 million active users, this certainly has the potential for trademark mischief. To their credit, Facebook has attempted to put into place some preventative measures to protect trademark owners against “name-squatting” violations. For one thing, these usernames cannot be sold. Trademark holders who want to protect their marks from being claimed by others may enroll their trademarks with Facebook by using the form found at http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=username_rights. Facebook has also provided a manner in which trademark holders may report potential infringement by filling out the form available at http://www.facebook.com/copyright.php?noncopyright_notice=1. Facebook has reserved the right to remove or reclaim any username at any time for any reason. At the moment it is unclear whether the trademark protection mechanism Facebook has put into place requires a trademark holder to provide a registered trademark. If it does, those with common law trademark rights may find themselves out of luck.
Also, since this service is being allowed on a “first come, first served” basis, it will be interesting to see how conflicts between mark holders with similar names in different markets or individuals with the same name as a celebrity will shake out. Given that the use of usernames on Twitter has brought great attention as of late with parallels drawn to disputed domain name purchases of a decade ago, we’ll look forward to seeing how the phenomena of reserving unique identifiers in the world of social media will play out. Stay tuned…
