Protect your business against fraudulent Facebook URLs

Author: Matthew Smith

Publish Date: June 22, 2009

Social networking website Facebook now offers its users the chance to have a Facebook URL (e.g. www.facebook.com/yourname). While this is yet another venue for companies who wish to publicise their goods and services online, it is also an opportunity for cybersquatters to fraudulently create Facebook URL’s incorporating or making reference to trademarks or brands they do not own.

Recently Facebook offered trademark owners the opportunity to put Facebook on notice of any registered trademark the trademark owner wanted protected. This protective notification service is no longer offered.  Instead, Facebook have an infringement notification form, which the trademark owner can fill out where the trademark owner believes the trademark has been infringed by a Facebook URL. 

Notwithstanding Facebook's removal of the above protective notification service, we recommend the following strategy to combat the risk of Facebook URL cybersquatting for your business name and/or major brands:

• You provide us with a list of the business or brand names you want to be protected from Facebook URL cybersquatting and we will undertake a preliminary assessment as to whether sufficient rights exist to claim ownership of those names.
• We write to Facebook and request that they not register any URL that includes the business or brand names to be protected.
• You discuss with us whether to apply for a Facebook URL for your website address, or such other URL's names that you wish to protect.

If you wish us to write to Facebook or discuss Facebook URL registrations, please contact Matthew Smith on 02 4907 6319, matthew.smith@harriswheeler.com.au or James d'Apice on 02 4907 6335, james.d’apice@harriswheeler.com.au as a matter of urgency.

Back