5 ms·

Fraud charges? This looks like a link to a proposal for cancellation of Facebook's trademark. Aaron, can you provide some commentary here?

thinkcomp 18y ago
There were three counts in the initial Petition to Cancel: priority of use, genericness, and fraud against the USPTO. Facebook's attorneys protested very strongly and repeatedly to have the fraud count removed, but with this ruling the USPTO denied both of Facebook's motions.
- jhancock 18y ago
  This does seem odd. As someone who has just filed a trademark, I can say the USPTO is "paid money from the filer" to do a search for name conflict. It is the responsibility of the filer to also search for reasonable conflict. But the purpose of the trademark office and the fees you pay it are for this search. There must be something really wrong here for fraud charges to stand.
  - MaysonL 18y ago
    Fraud here seems to mean material false statements in the trademark registration application, nothing more.
    - jhancock 18y ago
      My point is that the trademark registration process is VERY simple. There is not much you can do to commit fraud. You fill out a simple form and submit your name and supporting material such as logo to a search. If the search, based on the category of goods and service you select, is deemed not in conflict with already registered product or services, you get the nod and you are registered. The whole point of the registration process is you are paying the USPTO a fee to do a search to avoid conflict. Yes, there is an assumption that you are not applying for something you know already is registered by someone else. But the point of the search is a safeguard for this. I am very interested to understand the details of the fraud aspect of this claim. I am also interested to see how the USPTO's paid search process didn't catch the conflict.
      - marcus 18y ago
        Part of the registration process is that you testify that don't know of any prior existing uses of the trademark by 3rd parties in the field. If you are aware of existing prior uses of your trademark you might have committed fraud in your application.

thinkcomp 18y ago

There were three counts in the initial Petition to Cancel: priority of use, genericness, and fraud against the USPTO. Facebook's attorneys protested very strongly and repeatedly to have the fraud count removed, but with this ruling the USPTO denied both of Facebook's motions.

jhancock 18y ago
This does seem odd. As someone who has just filed a trademark, I can say the USPTO is "paid money from the filer" to do a search for name conflict. It is the responsibility of the filer to also search for reasonable conflict. But the purpose of the trademark office and the fees you pay it are for this search. There must be something really wrong here for fraud charges to stand.
- MaysonL 18y ago
  Fraud here seems to mean material false statements in the trademark registration application, nothing more.
  - jhancock 18y ago
    My point is that the trademark registration process is VERY simple. There is not much you can do to commit fraud. You fill out a simple form and submit your name and supporting material such as logo to a search. If the search, based on the category of goods and service you select, is deemed not in conflict with already registered product or services, you get the nod and you are registered. The whole point of the registration process is you are paying the USPTO a fee to do a search to avoid conflict. Yes, there is an assumption that you are not applying for something you know already is registered by someone else. But the point of the search is a safeguard for this. I am very interested to understand the details of the fraud aspect of this claim. I am also interested to see how the USPTO's paid search process didn't catch the conflict.
    - marcus 18y ago
      Part of the registration process is that you testify that don't know of any prior existing uses of the trademark by 3rd parties in the field. If you are aware of existing prior uses of your trademark you might have committed fraud in your application.