Although it may seem like a tongue twister, the headline faithfully responds to reality, although it should be clarified that Not all of those “Meta” actually refer to the same company.. In the background, a complex and interesting registered trademark case involving a small company related to the world of Art and the largest social network on the planet.
The Facebook parent company was renamed Meta, a brand that an art installation company had already been using for 12 years
Above the social network Facebook there was a company of the same name that also brought together Instagram, WhatsApp or Oculus, but its founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, decided that in order to avoid the obvious confusion between parent company (Facebook) and social network (Facebook) it was better to rename the first one. Something similar to what happened with Google (product) and Alphabet (parent company). That’s where Meta was born, last October, in an announcement that was also very indebted to Zuckerberg’s great future commitment to virtual reality and the metaverse.
The problem is that there was already a company called Meta, more specifically META (with all capital letters), also known as Meta.is and whose activity is artistic installations. Well, this company just sue Meta (Zuckerberg’s) for trademark violation in the courts of the Southern District of New York
META has explained in a statement that they have been “putting our blood, sweat and tears into the construction” of their brand for twelve years and that since Zuckerberg announced on October 28, 2021 that the Facebook parent company was renamed Meta have been trying to reach an agreement in good faithbut finally and after eight months of talks they have had no choice but to go to court.
One of the arguments by META is that it is difficult for them to offer their art installation services under that brand because potential customers believe that it is the matrix of Facebook and they harbor reluctance due to the toxicity related to said company and social network, especially in relation to the scandals due to the lack of respect for privacy.
The lawsuit even alleges the similarity between the identities of both brands since the META logo is said word preceded by a symmetrical design in the shape of the letter M, while the Meta logo shares that organization of elements and also includes a drawing symmetrical in the shape of the letter M. All of this is subject to a registered trademark by META both in the United States and internationally.
It now remains to be seen the court’s response to META’s requests, which would be summed up in Meta (Facebook) ceasing to use that brand, in addition to compensation for the damage caused.
