Facebook has today escalated a stoush with parody site Lamebook, blocking all access to the site.
A Facebook spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch that all outgoing links to Lamebook.com had been blocked and the site's fan page shut down. A message on the Lamebook front page confirms the move.
‘‘Well, Facebook didn't like us sticking up for ourselves, so they shut down our Fan Page, are preventing any users from "liking" us, and won't even let you share URLs with your friends if they point to Lamebook,’’ the site reads.
Lamebook operates in a similar style to the popular FailBlog site and allows users to submit screen grabs of funny Facebook conversations, status updates and pictures. Other users can then ''like'' posts and leave comments.
Facebook and it's similarly named rival are already embroiled in a legal battle after Lamebook launched a preemptive legal strike on Facebook claiming trademark infringement. Lamebook has claimed it is a parody site and as such is protected under the US First Amendment. Facebook has filed its own suit against the two-man operation, also claiming trademark infringement.
The Facebook spokesman could not say whether the blocking of Lamebook content was related to the ongoing legal action and repeated an earlier statement regarding the situation.
We’re disappointed that after months of working with Lamebook they turned to litigation. We believe their website is an improper attempt to trade off of Facebook’s popularity and fame and we will continue to protect our brand and trademark. Our terms prohibit posting of material or other activities on Facebook that infringe the rights of others. We reserve the right to pull down any content we believe is infringing. That includes linking to material we believe to be infringing. We also specifically prohibit use of any Facebook or confusingly similar marks (See SRR Sec. 5.1, 5.2 & 5.6 https://www.facebook.com/terms.php).
Update: Some users are reporting that sharing of Lamebook links is still possible. A Lamebook fan page is still accessible as of 9PM ET.
Thanks to +/- Razorfold for the tip.
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