Facebook users will be able to select usernames to be displayed as part of URLs (i.e. www.facebook.com/lorihall) beginning at 12:01 am on Saturday June 13, 2009.   Usernames are to be awarded on a first come, first served basis.

While this has generated a great deal of excitement among users of the social networking site, it is a cause for concern for holders of registered trademarks.   Much like the early days of the internet where people purchased domain names in order to sell them to companies, this could lead to incidents of Facebook squatting.  

Facebook has taken some steps to combat this by only allowing users to select a name if they had registered an account prior to June 8, 2009.   This is aimed at preventing people from registering accounts for the purpose of grabbing addresses.   Also, users will not be permitted to transfer names to others.

However, this does not solve all of the concerns of trademark owners.   The mere use of a trademark as a username attempts to mislead other users that there is a connection between the trademark owner and the Facebook page, and prevents the actual owner from reflecting its trademark as a username on the site.

Steps can be taken to prevent these problems by registering trademarks with Facebook in order for them to be reserved and unavailable to other users.   The online form to register a brand can be found here.   This should be done prior to the Saturday deadline as it is expected that usernames will go very quickly once the window opens at 12:01 am.

If you require assistance protecting your trademark from being registered as a username, or have any other trademark concerns or questions, you can find more information on trademarks, and contact information for trademarks professionals, on our trademarks services webpage  here.