5 ms·

Ask HN: Our product name is Meta too. What would you do?

20 points by alanchan_tw 5y ago

Our company is building projectmeta.app, a note-taking tool for visual learning, and our users call it Meta. Should we rename the company/product to avoid the name collision with Facebook?

1ibsq 5y ago
You picked a very generic name to beginn with. That's not an accusation but a statement. Intuitively I'd think only a very heavy organization can profit of a generic name and really make it theirs (shift the public eye to connect that word with a product/ brand). So, my action would be to take the opportunity and look for a descriptive AND more unique name for your project. Whatever you do, I wish you good luck for what comes!
- 1ibsq 5y ago
  Interesting project. For notes I like to stay with my rtf docs for now, but its always interesting to see other peoples approach to notes/ wiki/ ...
jfengel 5y ago
My opinion: Meta wasn't a great name, even if it weren't in conflict with somebody else more famous. It's hard to Google, because so many other things are "Meta". It's vague and doesn't really tell you anything about the project. So I'd recommend a rename, just to find something more creative and distinctive. Finding good names is hard, so I wish you luck on that, but it's worth the effort.
AznHisoka 5y ago
Change your name to Facebook.
1123581321 5y ago
You shouldn't to avoid collision with FB's holding company, but you should if they and a few others are successful in propagating "meta" referring to inhabited virtual spaces, as opposed to the more disassociated concept of information connection and collaboration on which your name is based. But right now, there's really no reason they will win! A lot of negative press is going to push back hard on the new name. As others have said, Alphabet is still just Google to most people. So build your project and don't get distracted by what's currently a non-problem.
hazza_n_dazza 5y ago
my degree is in metaphysics, they should stay offa my patch I say!
readonthegoapp 5y ago
Sue Facebook. All publicity is good publicity.
cblconfederate 5y ago
HN will tell you you need to change name immediately and repent because facebook is too big and blablabla. It doesn't matter at all for now, in fact you might benefit from their hype. The facebook-verse will flop as it has for everyone else who tried to switch to VR, even if their quest is a good product. Their whole rebrand thing is a marketing trick to distract from everything else. Keep it until they decide send out a valid cease and desist. Right now, without even a product named meta, how can they even send cease&desists to the many companies out there named "Meta", who already have products and registered the trademark for meta ?
nowherebeen 5y ago
Is your company called Meta also? If yes, then you don't have to worry about it since you incorporated before Facebook did. You will be in the right. They might intimidate you but I don't think they can legally force you to change your name. But best to ask a lawyer.
rarkins 5y ago
Yes, rename out of pragmatism: there's no point retaining the friction/confusion which would persist forever
mogadsheu 5y ago
Go public asap
muzani 5y ago
This is the perfect time to get acquired.
tofukid 5y ago
I would listen to your users, and think about your customer acquisition channels. Unless you rely heavily on SEO for customer acquisition, I doubt it’s going to be an issue. People are still going to call Facebook “Facebook”. Nobody calls Google “Alphabet”.
- warrenm 5y ago
  >Nobody calls Google “Alphabet” of course not - because Alphabet is not Google Google is a subsidiary :)
  - bruce511 5y ago
    While you are technically correct, people use Google to refer to all Alphabet properties. Ask 100 people "who owns YouTube? " - how many say Google, how many say Alphabet? I think the parents point is that the entity legally known as Alphabet, is colloquially referred to as Google, even when not referring to the subsidiary known as Google.
cpach 5y ago
You might want to talk to a competent lawyer that has good knowledge of trademark law, they might be able to add some nuance based on their experience.
smt88 5y ago
If you don't change the name, I guarantee you'll get an automated cease-and-desist from Meta. All big companies have dedicated software and lawyers proactively protecting their brand. Just change it now and move on.
- cblconfederate 5y ago
  What about priot art? There are a few trademarks for "Meta" already, including online services.
  - smt88 5y ago
    The actual legal merits are irrelevant. You can't win IP disputes against $900B companies, and you'd go bankrupt in the attempt. It's cheaper to just change the name and users won't care if the product is good anyway.
ajeet_dhaliwal 5y ago
Can’t you just be MetaNotes or something like that? Is that still too similar? Given you can prove you had the name already.
- alanchan_tw 5y ago
  We don't call it MetaNote because note-taking is just part of the Project Meta's ecosystem. In Project Meta, we are building "Meta-apps" that add "metadata" to the original database, such that different Meta-apps can use the same data for different use cases. Here's more context: https://medium.com/sheracaolity/my-vision-project-meta-e0bedd1467b2 https://medium.com/sheracaolity/my-vision-project-meta-e0bed...
seabirdr 5y ago
I think we should consider changing the name of the program. The current name conflicts not only with Facebook but also with the current popular concept of the metasverse.

20 points by alanchan_tw 5y ago

Our company is building projectmeta.app, a note-taking tool for visual learning, and our users call it Meta. Should we rename the company/product to avoid the name collision with Facebook?

1ibsq 5y ago

You picked a very generic name to beginn with. That's not an accusation but a statement. Intuitively I'd think only a very heavy organization can profit of a generic name and really make it theirs (shift the public eye to connect that word with a product/ brand). So, my action would be to take the opportunity and look for a descriptive AND more unique name for your project. Whatever you do, I wish you good luck for what comes!

1ibsq 5y ago
Interesting project. For notes I like to stay with my rtf docs for now, but its always interesting to see other peoples approach to notes/ wiki/ ...

jfengel 5y ago

My opinion: Meta wasn't a great name, even if it weren't in conflict with somebody else more famous. It's hard to Google, because so many other things are "Meta". It's vague and doesn't really tell you anything about the project. So I'd recommend a rename, just to find something more creative and distinctive. Finding good names is hard, so I wish you luck on that, but it's worth the effort.

AznHisoka 5y ago

Change your name to Facebook.

1123581321 5y ago

You shouldn't to avoid collision with FB's holding company, but you should if they and a few others are successful in propagating "meta" referring to inhabited virtual spaces, as opposed to the more disassociated concept of information connection and collaboration on which your name is based. But right now, there's really no reason they will win! A lot of negative press is going to push back hard on the new name. As others have said, Alphabet is still just Google to most people. So build your project and don't get distracted by what's currently a non-problem.

hazza_n_dazza 5y ago

my degree is in metaphysics, they should stay offa my patch I say!

readonthegoapp 5y ago

Sue Facebook. All publicity is good publicity.

cblconfederate 5y ago

HN will tell you you need to change name immediately and repent because facebook is too big and blablabla. It doesn't matter at all for now, in fact you might benefit from their hype. The facebook-verse will flop as it has for everyone else who tried to switch to VR, even if their quest is a good product. Their whole rebrand thing is a marketing trick to distract from everything else. Keep it until they decide send out a valid cease and desist. Right now, without even a product named meta, how can they even send cease&desists to the many companies out there named "Meta", who already have products and registered the trademark for meta ?

nowherebeen 5y ago

Is your company called Meta also? If yes, then you don't have to worry about it since you incorporated before Facebook did. You will be in the right. They might intimidate you but I don't think they can legally force you to change your name. But best to ask a lawyer.

rarkins 5y ago

Yes, rename out of pragmatism: there's no point retaining the friction/confusion which would persist forever

mogadsheu 5y ago

Go public asap

muzani 5y ago

This is the perfect time to get acquired.

tofukid 5y ago

I would listen to your users, and think about your customer acquisition channels. Unless you rely heavily on SEO for customer acquisition, I doubt it’s going to be an issue. People are still going to call Facebook “Facebook”. Nobody calls Google “Alphabet”.

warrenm 5y ago
>Nobody calls Google “Alphabet” of course not - because Alphabet is not Google Google is a subsidiary :)
- bruce511 5y ago
  While you are technically correct, people use Google to refer to all Alphabet properties. Ask 100 people "who owns YouTube? " - how many say Google, how many say Alphabet? I think the parents point is that the entity legally known as Alphabet, is colloquially referred to as Google, even when not referring to the subsidiary known as Google.

cpach 5y ago

You might want to talk to a competent lawyer that has good knowledge of trademark law, they might be able to add some nuance based on their experience.

smt88 5y ago

If you don't change the name, I guarantee you'll get an automated cease-and-desist from Meta. All big companies have dedicated software and lawyers proactively protecting their brand. Just change it now and move on.

cblconfederate 5y ago
What about priot art? There are a few trademarks for "Meta" already, including online services.
- smt88 5y ago
  The actual legal merits are irrelevant. You can't win IP disputes against $900B companies, and you'd go bankrupt in the attempt. It's cheaper to just change the name and users won't care if the product is good anyway.

ajeet_dhaliwal 5y ago

Can’t you just be MetaNotes or something like that? Is that still too similar? Given you can prove you had the name already.

alanchan_tw 5y ago
We don't call it MetaNote because note-taking is just part of the Project Meta's ecosystem. In Project Meta, we are building "Meta-apps" that add "metadata" to the original database, such that different Meta-apps can use the same data for different use cases. Here's more context: https://medium.com/sheracaolity/my-vision-project-meta-e0bedd1467b2 https://medium.com/sheracaolity/my-vision-project-meta-e0bed...

seabirdr 5y ago

I think we should consider changing the name of the program. The current name conflicts not only with Facebook but also with the current popular concept of the metasverse.