Facebook to Offer Options to Trademark Owners

As has been broadly reported, the popular social networking website Facebook announced this week that at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, June 13, it will begin allowing users to register new, “personalized” Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) to point to Facebook pages. Currently, Facebook user-profile URLs combine the facebook.com domain name with a nine-digit numeric code. The new URLs will allow users to personalize Facebook page URLs with a trade name or trademark (e.g., www.facebook.com/MorganLewis). As Facebook now claims to have more than 200 million registered users, these personalized URLs may represent new and valuable avenues for companies to reach consumers. Unfortunately, they may also represent new tools for infringers or cybersquatters.

According to Facebook, these new usernames (and the corresponding personalized URLs) will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis starting at 12:01 a.m. June 13 (for users who have been on Facebook prior to June 9). Newer Facebook users may register a personal username beginning on June 28, 2009.

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