The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has this week granted the social media giant Facebook a "notice of allowance" to trade mark the word "face".
Apparently Facebook have a history of going after anyone who use "face" or "book" in their name - UTalkMarketing cites examples such as Teachbook and Faceporn.
Whilst I think it's crazy to consider letting a company copyright two separate dictionary words (they should have gone down the Google route maybe!) the other part of the report that stood out to me - was what are people doing calling their website Teachbook or Faceporn anyway?! Actually, I suppose in the case of the Face one, they're just going for a laugh and it was probably a joke spin off of Facebook. But Teachbook - "a professional community for teachers" could have come up with a more original name.
I always think it's really lazy of any business to copy another - take inspiration from, yes, but match the name of? That means you haven't got any imagination or ingenuity and so - to my mind - probably shouldn't be starting a business. As they're valuable assets to anyone wanting to set up their own company, let alone website.
Although, maybe I'm wrong, because I can remember Teachbook's name...