Editor’s note: This article was first published in November 2010 as news, when the Facebook-Lamebook dispute was awaiting trial; the article does not cover how the case ended, and its promise to keep readers posted refers to follow-up coverage that may not exist.
Lamebook is a website where users can share funny or interesting things they’ve seen on Facebook. The site ended up in Facebook’s sights, and Facebook eventually filed a lawsuit for trademark infringement and misuse of material posted on Facebook.
While the case awaits trial, Facebook has removed Lamebook’s Facebook page, along with the ability to “like” it and any outbound link pointing to or mentioning Lamebook.
In Spain, a trademark infringement claim would probably have no basis: although the colour is the same, the brand name is different and doesn’t confuse users. In the United States, however, there’s talk that the site could be in serious trouble after taking on a giant like Facebook, which will go after the whole lot.
Since Lamebook makes money from advertising, it will be accused of generating revenue from the content and improper use of another existing site (Facebook). For starters, lawyers don’t come cheap in the United States, so Lamebook has already put a notice on its site asking for donations to cover the costs of the lawsuit.
This opens up several debates, and it’s hard to take either side. While it’s true that Lamebook profits from Facebook’s content, even publishing snippets of some conversations held on the network, it’s also true that to use Lamebook you have to visit Facebook, so in a way the site gives Facebook enormous publicity.
Still, we can already see how our friend Zuckerberg operates: someone who started out with 500 million friends and a few enemies, and whose enemies are now multiplying. Or rather, he’s going out of his way to open up plenty of new fronts.
What’s clear is that Zuckerberg doesn’t like a site making money at his expense, even if it doesn’t harm his own, and with this move he shows he isn’t willing to allow it and won’t hesitate to do the same in similar cases.
For now, according to the lawyers, Lamebook is done for, unless its lawyer works some legal magic to get it out of this. Either way, we’ll keep you posted.
Further reading
- The war between Facebook and Google heats up
- Facebook to be investigated for violating users’ privacy
- Truths and lies about Mark Zuckerberg
Featured image: Brian Solis, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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