Facebook Removes Page After Trademark Infringement Complaint
San Diego, CA – Facebook has removed a page from its website as a result of a trademark complaint submitted by the Seventh-Day Adventists.
A group calling itself “Adventists for Life” was the culprit. Seventh Day Adventists have trademarked “Adventist” and the church activily polices its trademarks.
The church also sent a cease and desist letter which asked Adventists for Life to abandon the domain name www.adventistsforlife.org. The domain name is currently parked.
An interesting question is whether the ADVENTIST trademark is merely descriptive of the goods and services being offered. In other words, a Catholic church would be hard-pressed to register the trademark CATHOLIC for use in relation to religious services. A trademark that is generic or merely descriptive of the goods or services at issue generally cannot be protected. Perhaps Adventists for Life should have sought legal counsel to respond to the complaint?
