Online dating site in trademark battle against Facebook

United States

Sophie Roberts: Staff reporter

The "hottest place to hook up with local singles for no strings attached adult dating" is retaliating against social networking giant Facebook who filed a lawsuit against adult dating site Shagbook, claiming that the site's name is too closely aligned to its own.

Unlike many other businesses who have felt the heavy breath of Facebook down their necks, UK-based Shagbook is fighting back Facebook's trademark opposition with a countersuit, claiming that Facebook is bullying its competitors, adding that the company should not have been issued the trademark.

"[Facebook]'s opposition should be denied under the equitable doctrine of unclean hands," Shagbook argue, saying that Mark Zuckerberg's networking site has "engaged in trademark misuse and trademark bullying by abusively using oppositions, litigation, and threats of the same to maintain a competitive market advantage."

Shagbook's filing wastes no time identifying the origins of the term "facebook" in its argument towards the legitimacy of the term as a trademark.

"Because the term 'facebook' was used by many parties descriptively and generically well before [Facebook]'s date of first use of the term, the term is generic and incapable of trademark protection under the laws of the US."

Facebook's trademark opposition against Shagbook showed concern regarding online user confusion which Shagbook claims is unreasonable. The social networking site "has at times made public statements that its website at facebook.com is not a dating site and in fact has removed individuals from the site upon discovering that said individuals had been using the site as a 'dating site' to meet new people for sexual encounters".

"Thus, [Facebook] should be estopped from arguing that it provides services that are the same as or related to the services provided by [Shagbook]."

A spokesman for Shagbook said the name for the website came about innocently enough. The site's owner referred to his "little black book" as his "shagbook", and, as he was amused by the word "shag", the site spun off from there.

Shagbook, which was established in 2006, is the latest of several companies to have been hit with a lawsuit from Facebook. The social network has a history of targeting organisations it believes has infringed on its trademark, such as Teachbook and FacebbookOfSex.com.Shagbook's answer to Facebook's trademark opposition has been filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).