5 ms·
Well it was based off Harvard's yearbook which was called facebook. At least that was my understanding.
by justherefortart 9y ago
Well it was based off Harvard's yearbook which was called facebook. At least that was my understanding.
- SippinLean 9y agoA "face book" is a generic term for a student directory.
- justherefortart 9y agoBack in my day we just called it the student directory. Didn't have photos in any I'd seen as a kid/college student, those were only in yearbooks.
- reaperducer 9y agoNot just a Harvard thing. A "facebook" or "lookbook" was a pretty common term both in and out of academia. It's still used in the fashion industry.
- justherefortart 9y agoIf facebook were that common, trademarking would have seemingly been a bit more difficult. Having photos in student directories doesn't seem like a common thing.
- grzm 9y agoDepends on your criteria for common, but it was certainly not unique. We had them at the non-Harvard university I attended and IIRC, it was colloquially called the "freshman face book".
- function_seven 9y agoCommonality isn't always a roadblock to trademarking. Windows and Apple are two other examples. It definitely restricts the scope of the mark, but websites were new in all industries, just like software was when Microsoft and Apple got their TMs.