Facebook: the new name of the company is controversial – Hitek.fr

Last week, the world was discovering Meta Inc., the new name of Facebook Inc., the head quarter of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, Oculus and Portal, intended to lay the future foundations for the vision of Mark Zuckerberg, what he calls the metaverse. And if the announcement of this name change seems to have had a positive effect for the company on the stock exchange, recent allegations could well tarnish his image, or even take him to the justice.

the others “meta”

This decision by Facebook to become a Meta is not without consequences, because several intellectual property experts have pointed out that other companies already have this name in the USA. Indeed, there is already a company called Meta PC in Arizona, specializing in the sale of computer equipment. Our colleagues from The Guardian had already revealed that Meta PC founders wouldn’t sell the name for less than $ 20 million.

But there is also Meta Company, based in Chicago, who recently spoke in a statement in which she accuses Mark Zuckerberg’s company of having usurped its name brand. In a long letter entitled “Facebook stole our name and our livelihood” published on their site, Meta Company founder Nate Skulic, explains the situation and the behavior of Facebook towards him. It begins as follows:

For the past three months, Facebook lawyers have harassed us to sell our name to them. We declined their offer for several reasons. Namely, the low offer would not cover the costs of changing our name […]. The lawyer representing Facebook said he would respect our law and our existing trademark filing.

Skulic then declares that on the date of October 28, 2021, Facebook decides to commit trademark infringement and to be called Meta.

They couldn’t buy us, so they tried to force the media to bury us. We shouldn’t be surprised by these actions, coming from a company that continually says one thing and does another. Facebook and its leaders are disingenuous and in bad faith, not only towards us, but towards all mankind.

a really justified complaint?

The founder of Meta Company ends by stating have taken legal action against Facebook, but some only see this open letter as a simple way to put pressure on the social media giant in order to get a big bucks.

Indeed, there are indications that the company Meta Company would actually be just an empty shell. Our colleagues from Numerama reveal that if the company was indeed founded in September 2013, no form of actual activity has not been observed since. Same for their website, although it was filed in 2014, it was updated on October 31, 2021 and does not offer anything other than his letter.

All these elements put together suggest that it would be rather a way for Skulic to earn a nice sum, Facebook probably preferring to pay directly rather than ending up in court. Especially since lately, the revelations made in particular by Frances Haugens with the Facebook Papers sparked a wave of questions and suspicions putting the company in a difficult position. The kind of situation that a simple name change struggles to forget.