Lots of nice faces at www.adultcybermart.com/VideoDayArchives.html

from www.abajournal.com – Facebook has sued several affiliated Internet companies for using the phrase “Face Book of Sex” to promote their adult networking service.

The federal suit names as a defendant Various Inc. and three subsidiaries. Filed in the Northern District of California, the complaint says the defendants operate Facebookofsex.com and affiliated websites in a “blatant attempt” to capitalize on the Facebook name.

WestlawInsider has news of the suit, which alleges trademark infringement, unfair competition and violations of the federal law barring cybersquatting. “Association with defendants’ pornographic websites tarnishes Facebook’s reputation and abuses the trust of Facebook users,” the suit says.

Facebookofsex.com imitates Facebook features such as the “like” button and a blue band at the top of each page, the suit says. As part of its “sophisticated and methodical scheme” to profit from the Facebook name, Facebookofsex.com encourages co-branded websites and pays them for Internet traffic, the complaint alleges.

FriendFinder has responded by asserting Facebook is infringing its rights by using the term “friend finder” within its site. Facebook counters that its use of the term is descriptive fair use.

from www.westlawinsider.com – It looks like Facebook has to defend its trademark from genericization already.

To that end, the social networking site is suing Various, Inc., FriendFinder Networks, Inc., and GMCI Internet Operations, Inc. to stop the use of the phrase “Face Book of Sex.”

“Face Book of Sex” is pretty much what it sounds like: it’s an adult networking site that operates for the purpose of connecting people who want sex.

Various, Inc., the parent company to the other two, is actually not as obscure a company as it sounds.

In 2007, Penthouse Media Group, of Penthouse Magazine fame, purchased Various, Inc. Penthouse then changed its name to FriendFinder Networks.

So in reality, this group of companies is actually Penthouse.

What does Penthouse have to do with sexual social networking?

Not much until it purchased Various, which was the company responsible for the FriendFinder and AdultFriendFinder websites.

Speaking of FriendFinder, the complaint states that Various responded to Facebook’s cease-and-desist letters by claiming that Facebook was infringing on Various’s “FriendFinder” trademark through Facebook’s “friend finder.”

Touché, Various, but not a good legal argument.

As it points out in its complaint, Facebook’s use of “friend finder” is completely descriptive (a feature used to find Facebook friends through email addresses), and bears no resemblance to Various’s networking service that offers to hook up consenting adults.

Nor does it seek to wrongfully trade on FriendFinder’s or AdultFriendFinder’s reputation (Facebook probably wants to distance itself as much as possible from these two marks).

The same can’t be said about Various’s use of “Face Book.”

Various is obviously trying to use “Face Book” to trade on Facebook’s reputation, because “Facebook” was not widely known before the social networking site of the same name came to prominence.

If not for the little issue of trademark infringement, “Face Book of Sex” would have been a great marketing move.

The phrase intends to evoke images of a website like Facebook, but for the purpose of helping its members have sex with one another.

While that idea is anything but pristine, it seems less seedy than AdultFriendFinder, helped in no small part by the use of the term “Face Book.”

And it’s because of this association that Facebook wants to defend the mark.

Facebook has worked hard to maintain a reputation that it’s safe, secure, and kid-friendly.

Confusion about an association between the two sites only hurts Facebook, so naturally, Facebook is suing.

Various’s chances really don’t look great.

When it started using “Face Book of Sex,” Various was either not well-versed enough in trademark law, or thought that “Facebook” was generic enough at this point to safely use the mark.

However, if Various’s removal of the phrase from its sites is any indication, it figured out that it was in the wrong, and would probably lose the lawsuit.

It looks like “Face Book of Sex” was replaced with “SexBook” and the less child-friendly “[expletive]Book.”

This won’t be the last time someone tries to capitalize on Facebook’s reputation.