Meta may be involved in yet another lawsuit over brand name. However, this time the reason is the recently launched Threads — not a Meta x Meta. A U.K. tech company dubbed Threads has given Mark Zuckerberg 30 days to stop using the name. Otherwise, the British courts will be called in.
Last year, Meta filed a lawsuit with Meta (owner of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and now Threads) for trademark registration in the United States. This name change of the former Facebook Inc. generated some controversy and even the owners of the @Meta and @metaverse accounts on Instagram lost their accounts — the second was recovered, while the first became the official at Zuckerberg’s company.
Threads Ltd. sent an out-of-court statement to Meta, owner and creator of the social network Threads. This type of contact has no legal effect, it only informs the other party that if the demand is not met, the plaintiff will take the case to court. Meta has 30 days to resolve the situation before Threads Ltd. files a lawsuit.
The British company, which provides cloud computing services, claims that its trademark has been registered since 2012 and is recognized for this — in the statement, the director informs that the company is worth $150 billion. Threads Ltd. also says in the statement that Meta made an offer for the threads.app domain in April 2023, but informed that the link was not for sale. Following the launch of the Threads social network, Meta removed Threads Ltd.’s Facebook page.
The Threads trademark is registered with the INPI under the ownership of Learning Factory S.A., a publisher that produces English-language educational material and supplies books to a large network of schools.
In the INPI system, there is a request for registration by Meta. Mark Zuckerberg’s company’s application is in the opposition stage, in which companies that have a similar trademark can challenge the registration. Could it be that after Apple x Gradient, we will have Meta x Learning Factory?