Facebook’s New Meta Branding Contested by Gaming PC Company That Applied for the Trademark Months Ago, Owners Want $20 Million

[Tsing]

Image: Meta



Facebook’s rebrand to Meta may have hit a stumbling block. As discovered by TMZ, it turns out that the founders of a custom gaming PC company called Meta had already filed for the name back in August. The trademark has not been granted to founders Joe Darger and Zack Shutt yet, but they seem committed to fighting for their name unless Facebook pays them off in the amount of $20 million.







From TMZ:



The cost might seem crazy, but the way Darger and Shutt see it, giving up the TM will require them to rebrand their entire company … which, of course, will be super expensive.Trademark or not, Meta PC has already reaped some of Facebook’s announcement benefits — they’ve seen a 5,000%...

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[Zarathustra]

This is probably one that would be easier for them to just pay rather than go to court.

That is less money than Zuckerberg has between the cushions of his couch.

 

[Endgame]

This is probably one that would be easier for them to just pay rather than go to court.

That is less money than Zuckerberg has between the cushions of his couch.

I was thinking 20 mil probably wasn’t asking enough given the size of Facebook. It would be like me getting a questionable $25 fine for parking. Sure, I could fight it and possibly even win, but even if I “win” it’s probably a loss given the opportunity cost.

 

[Paul_Johnson]

Who do I dislike more...patent trolls or Facebook........**** it.....why can't both lose!

 

[Grimlakin]

This has nothing to do with a patent and asking Facebook to pay up for their pc division copyright makes sense. It's a headache Facebook can afford to buy off.

 

[Brian_B]

This has nothing to do with a patent

Trademark.. Patent... Tomaytoe... Tomahtoh...

 

[Dogsofjune]

Soooo, Facebook is going to buy a custom PC company?
I'd look for it on Marketplace if I had an account.

 

[Brian_B]

If I were Facebook, it's call their bluff and bury them in legal fees. That $20M will come down quickly once the legal costs start to rack up. A company the size of Facebook can absorb something low key like that with interns for internal counsel, whereas a small mom & pop is going to have to hire outside counsel and those costs are gonna add up really quickly.

If it did make it to court, the PC case manufacturer would likely win, but it'd cost them a ton of money getting it there and probably take years, and they probably aren't going to recoup that with their business in all honesty.

 

[Grimlakin]

If I were Facebook, it's call their bluff and bury them in legal fees. That $20M will come down quickly once the legal costs start to rack up. A company the size of Facebook can absorb something low key like that with interns for internal counsel, whereas a small mom & pop is going to have to hire outside counsel and those costs are gonna add up really quickly.

If they are filing suite you can bet they already have legal representation and I would also bet that is 20 million plus legal fees.

If they have a solid leg to stand on in the court of law they will have no issue finding a lawyer to get Facebook money.

 

[Brian_B]

If they are filing suite you can bet they already have legal representation and I would also bet that is 20 million plus legal fees.

If they have a solid leg to stand on in the court of law they will have no issue finding a lawyer to get Facebook money.

Yeah but you don't necessarily get that money if you win - you get to keep the name. And even if money is part of the court-ordered settlement, it doesn't come until after the suit is all said and done - and that takes a lot of time.

In the mean time, the attorneys aren't going to work entirely on credit - there will be legal fees all along the way.

 

[Niner51]

Doesn't sound like Facebook did very good investigating before making their decision.