Facebook Makes Good on Threat to Sue Lamebook

[Amy Miller]

The legal battle between Facebook Inc. and the parody site Lamebook is heating up.

Facebook Inc. has filed a trademark infringement suit against Lamebook, which mocks the funny and “lame” things people post on Facebook, in federal court in San Jose. Lawyers for Cooley in San Francisco and Palo Alto filed the suit on Nov. 8, four days after Lamebook sued the social networking site in federal court in Austin seeking a declaration that it doesn’t infringe Facebook’s trademarks.

“Because Lamebook’s Texas filing was made in the course of discussion between Facebook and Lamebook concerning resolution of this matter and was made without prior notice, threat, or warning,” Facebook’s complaint said, “Lamebook’s Texas filing was anticipatory and made in order to obtain an unfair procedural and logistical advantage over Facebook, which is the actual and rightful plaintiff in this dispute.”

Lawyers from Durie Tangri in San Francisco are representing Lamebook in the California suit.

Lawyers for both Facebook and Lamebook had been in discussions for months, but were unable to reach a resolution, according to the complaint Lamebook filed in Texas.

Lamebook said the site isn’t a social network. It’s an obvious parody. Therefore, it’s protected by the First Amendment, and it asked the court to declare that use of the term “Lamebook” doesn’t infringe or violate Facebook’s copyrights.

“Facebook’s claims and demands have created a reasonable apprehension of litigation and have placed a cloud over Lambook’s ability to make use of the Lamebook mark and thereby caused uncertainty to Lamebook in connection with its business,” the complaint said.

Comments

[J Armistead]

Any chance that you can put up a link that's not password protected for the complaint against Lamebook?

[Gypsy Rose Lee]

Your link is not correct - it takes us to your email, not to the PDF.

[Cynthia]

Hi all,

The link has been updated - you should be able to access the complaint now. My apologies for any confusion!

[J Armistead]

Thanks!

[The Nerdy Nurse]

If it's not a facebook clone and clearly a parody then it is very much protected under 1st amendment rights. Also facebook is just slamming them with free publicity.

[ghd hair straightener]

It's either a joke, but more likely a test of the PACER system by the court IT folks that should have been deleted, but wasn't. Don't laugh though - IT tests have sometimes been much worse, like using people's REAL information and credit card numbers in testing commerce systems...