Facebook looking at legal name challenge

Term was used generically across Harvard campus

16 April 2008 17:40 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

We would imagine Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's happy Harvard memories are souring rapidly as the social networking firm is facing another legal challenge from an old school buddy of his.

Aaron Greenspan of the Think Computer Corp wants the relevant American authority to cancel Facebook's trademark on its name, saying Zuckerberg did not have the right to apply for that mark.

Apparently generic usage of the term "Facebook" across the Harvard campus made it unable to be trademarked, although this was something that Zuckerberg managed to do in 2005.

Greenspan is looking to get a settlement out of Facebook, along with permission to use the Facebook name in the title of a self-published book.

"Think began using the term 'The Facebook' to describe one of the components of its houseSYSTEM student portal at Harvard University in the summer of 2003", Greenspan said in a statement.

"It launched the feature on September 19, 2003, several months before thefacebook.com began accepting new users on February 4, 2004."