Facebook’s Meta Trademark Might Be in Danger

Meta Platforms — the company formerly known as Facebook — has been on quite the ride when it comes to intellectual property rights. They’ve been buying trademarks featuring the “Meta” term — some that date back to 1996 — and they’ve also faced a lawsuit from the company MetaX. However, the Meta trademark may have just hit its most significant hurdle.

Metaformers, Inc., is a Virginia corporation that claims it’s been using the “Meta” trademark since at least 2001. The company didn’t file an application to preserve its rights back then, but they say they’ve established common law trademark rights over the years. However, the biggest problem for Meta Platforms may be a trademark application that’s now nearly four years old.

Meta Trademark Up Against a Longstanding Company

When Meta Platforms sought trademark registration for “Meta” back in January 2022, there’s no way to know whether they foresaw the hurdles they’d face. The company clearly expected some issues — as they started purchasing rights to other Meta trademarks prior to their rebranding. However, Metaformers believes their application showed up a few years too late.

In October 2022, Metaformers filed an application for “Meta” with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The company provides a variety of data storage, software solutions, IT consulting services, cloud modernization, computer services, and data mining — among others. Of course, Meta Platforms is currently offering or planning to offer similar services.

This brings up a major point of contention. While the company formerly known as Facebook has been working to achieve trademark rights since early 2022, their application was only published for opposition in November 2023. This gave Metaformers the chance to oppose the application — and the smaller company jumped at the opportunity.

Does Metaformers Have a Case Against Meta Platforms?

By even looking at the names of the two companies, it’s clear how one might assume that a likelihood of confusion could arise if both firms had trademarks over “Meta.” On the surface, it would seem that the smaller company has a strong case. Their trademark application clearly arrived at the USPTO first, and their registration was approved nearly two years before Meta Platforms even had their application published for opposition.

Additionally, it would be hard to argue against the smaller company if they’ve truly been using the Meta trademark since 2001 — as specified in their trademark opposition. However, it’s worth noting that their initial application was filed on an intent-to-use basis. When filed, Metaformers stated that they were not currently using the trademark. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean they weren’t using it in the past.

Regardless of their actual first use and whether they were using the Meta trademark when submitting their application, the fact remains that Metaformers secured intellectual property rights prior to Meta Platform. In fact, the company formerly known as Facebook still hasn’t been approved for such use. This means there may be an interesting fight ahead.

What Happens Now?

While Meta Platforms may not have predicted the significant hurdles they would face upon submitting a trademark application, the reality probably hit them fairly quickly. When looking at the trademark timeline, the social media giant received a trademark refusal back in July 2023. This could have been 18 months of work down the drain, but with the resources the company invested, they clearly wouldn’t give up so easily.

That’s why the company submitted a request for reconsideration in August of that year — which was approved — and saw their trademark published for opposition in November. Of course, Metaformers made sure to point out these difficulties — stating in their opposition that Meta Platforms was “well aware of [our] rights in and to the META Mark, as the META Mark was cited in a… likelihood of confusion refusal against the initial registration…”

On top of the other intellectual property issues faced by Meta Platforms, the company will now have to respond to the opposition filed by Metaformers. They have until April 27 to respond to the case, and they’ll no doubt fight back. While a massive company like Meta Platforms certainly has a resource advantage over others, their multi-year fight for the Meta trademark no doubt just got a little more complicated.