In the ongoing trademark war between Facebook on one side and roughly the rest of the world on the other, one small combatant has achieved, if not victory, then at least an honorable peace. (Lamebook LLC v. Facebook Inc.)
Briefly recapping the history of this seemingly unequal contest (see our previous blog entries No Laughing Matter and Investigative Reporting), Facebook threatened suit against Lamebook, a self-styled parody website operator. After eight months of fruitless settlement negotiations, Lamebook turned the tables on its giant antagonist and filed suit against Facebook, seeking a judicial declaration that it was not infringing the Facebook mark.
The parties have now announced a settlement which, according to their joint statement, both protects the Facebook mark and allows continued operation of the Lamebook website. These noble goals are to be achieved by Lamebook adding a “prominent disclaimer” to its site and abandoning its efforts to register its trademark.
That seems like a pretty good deal for Lamebook. We wonder if Teachbook and Shagbook will be offered similar deals.