Facebook never ceases to make headlines, but this time it"s not rolling out any new features or security updates. According to TechCrunch, Facebook has been granted the rights to trademark the word "Face."
Within three months, the social networking giant will need to fork over a fee to the patent office, fill out a Statement of Use, and use the trademark in its own form of commerce, in order to secure its rights. This means they"re going to have to come up with some sort of telecommunication based Face-something in order to seal the deal. However, even so, this isn"t one of those patents that covers all usage of the word--that would be completely absurd. The trademark will simply cover the use of the word "Face" with regards to:
"Telecommunication services, namely, providing online chat rooms and electronic bulletin boards for transmission of messages among computer users in the field of general interest and concerning social and entertainment subject matter, none primarily featuring or relating to motoring or to cars.”
It"s interesting to note that if Facebook get this trademark, Apple could possibly face legal issues with its video chat program, FaceTime. Facebook filed for the "Face" trademark back in August, but Apple definitely had FaceTime out the door before that. It"s unclear if that would make a difference once the trademark is secured. That"s going to require someone who actually knows something about patent/trademark law. Either way, Facebook got what they wanted.