Key Aspects:
* In October 2021, Facebook officially changed its name to Meta.
* A company that has been in business for twelve years and also goes by the name Meta is suing a technology giant, accusing it of infringing on its trademark.
* According to the company, its business has suffered directly from the misunderstanding brought about by Facebook’s rebranding.
When Facebook changed its name to Meta in October, there were some concerns that the firm was trying to dominate the embryonic metaverse. However, one aggrieved party is only now coming public with complaints about the name change.
An installation-art company known as META (or Meta.is) announced on Tuesday that it will be suing Meta (or Facebook) for trademark infringement. The lawsuit will assert that Zuckerberg’s decision to rename the giant corporation infringed upon the reputation of the more modest business.
“On October 28, 2021, Facebook seized our META mark and name, which we put our blood, sweat, and tears into building for over twelve years,” reads a post on the smaller company’s site. “Today, after eight months of trying to negotiate with Facebook in good faith to no avail, we were left with no choice but to file a lawsuit against them.”
Meta.is contends that the numerous privacy breaches that Facebook has committed have rendered it impossible to disclose the company’s name publicly. The complaint asserts that “Meta can no longer provide goods and services under the META mark” because “consumers are likely to mistakenly believe that Meta’s goods and services emanate from Facebook and that Meta is associated with the toxicity that is inextricably linked with Facebook.”
Meta.is has a registered trademark for the name. However, it may still have difficulty winning a legal case because Facebook has filed various trademark applications since the name change was made official. These applications include separate marks for messaging services, social networking sites, and financial services. Various trademarks claim the Meta name for things unrelated to technology, such as a company that manufactures prosthetic limbs and hard seltzer.
Another Meta claims that the Facebook makeover “wiped out” their business:
On Tuesday, the company filed a complaint in a court located in Manhattan. Although the company is officially registered as MetaX LLC, it uses the name “Meta” in its branding.
According to the lawsuit, the company was established in 2010, submitted an application for its trademark in 2016, and had it registered successfully in 2020. It creates immersive technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality.
According to the charges contained in the case that MetaX submitted to the Southern District Court of New York on Tuesday, the action was taken by the technological behemoth “obliterated” the business of the smaller company. According to the complaint, “Meta’s modest business has no hope of competing successfully with the corporate monster.”
According to the case, MetaX is looking for an injunction ordering Facebook’s parent business to stop using the Meta name in connection with products, services, or activities relating to virtual, augmented, or extended reality. They are also looking for unspecified damages.
A request for comment was addressed to the parent company of Facebook, but representatives from the company did not react immediately.
MetaX LLC, established in 2010, is responsible for creating immersive installations and activations at events such as Coachella and SXSW. These installations and activations incorporate AR, VR, visuals, sound, and other technologies. According to the lawsuit, Facebook-turned-Meta now seeks to do something similar to promote its new strategy. MetaX claims that it has collaborated with well-known digital artists such as Beeple and that the company’s efforts have “laid the foundations for the growing, if not yet completely existent,’ metaverse.'”
In the complaint, MetaX asserts that during negotiations after Facebook changed its name, the internet giant argued that the two companies supply “drastically different goods and services,” referring to itself as a “social technology company.”
The lawsuit does, however, refer to recent activations by Facebook-turned-Meta at SXSW and Coachella, which MetaX argues are “similar” to events that have been a significant element of its business for several years.
In the lawsuit that MetaX filed, the company claimed that it “can no longer provide services and products under the Meta mark because consumers are likely to mistakenly believe that Meta’s products and services emanate from Facebook and the toxicity that is inextricably linked with the Facebook brand.”
According to the allegations made in the lawsuit, MetaX spent eight months communicating with Facebook in “good faith” and gave the internet giant papers relevant to its trademark rights.
MetaX is seeking monetary damages and an injunction to prevent Meta from using the name “Meta” in connection with its company or services. The order would prevent Meta from using the word “Meta.” There is no indication of the total capital that MetaX is looking to raise.
When Insider attempted to get in touch with Meta, the company did not immediately react. When reached by Insider outside of regular working hours in the United States, Bolognino did not directly answer.
As originally reported https://www.theverge.com/2022/7/19/23270164/meta-augmented-reality-facebook-lawsuit
