Meta may be a huge company with the funds for the best legal representation, but from the outside, it doesn’t always look that way. Entrepreneurs are risky by nature, and I’m sure the people at the top making the decisions are too, but just because you have the money to take every risk and be a bully, it doesn’t mean you actually have to.

Meta has found themselves in quite a few legal battles and it doesn’t look like they’re doing much to avoid it. Between their hasty attempt to rebrand from Facebook to Meta, and launching Threads, it almost seems as if they don’t have lawyers on their team at all.

Here’s an overview of their infringement suits so you can see what they do and go ahead and do the opposite (unless you’ve got the same kind of cash to burn).

First up, we have the Meta brand itself.

Meta has been sued for trademark infringement at least 4 times now for allegedly infringing on other companies by using the name “Meta”.

Typically the first step of the trademark process is to have a comprehensive search done to assess the risk level of your trademark. This is because we don’t want to waste time and money applying for something that isn’t going to succeed with the USPTO, or get you sued for infringement. Which is why it’s a little surprising that Meta quickly rebranded itself despite likely being aware of the risk of infringement.

It’s hard to imagine a company of this size doesn’t have lawyers performing these types of searches when Meta calls. My guess? Their lawyers probably made them aware of the risk, and they took it anyway, which really isn’t all that uncommon for businesses of this size.

Meta was sued most recently by MetaByte, a staffing and technology company in business since 1993, with multiple trademarks registered across various types of goods and services.

MetaByte, and other companies that have sued Meta, argue that “Meta” is too similar to their companies that contain the word “Meta” but also have an additional word, and they’re in similar industries. These companies feel that consumers could be confused by “Meta” and their brands, and believe that there could be some connection where there is not. Preventing consumer confusion is the ultimate purpose of having a trademark, and is often the main reason businesses bring trademark infringement suits. Consumer confusion can destroy a brand and its reputation.

Even though there are other companies using the word “Meta” in their brand, none of them use the word “Meta” alone. These companies all feel that they don’t cause as much harm to each other because the other word that they each chose to use is what helps them stand apart from each other, while the word “Meta” is merely a commonly used prefix in the tech space.

The irony here is that despite being sued various times, and arguing that “Meta” is not too similar to other companies using “Meta” + another word, Meta then opposed multiple pending trademarks for “Meta” + another word alleging that they were in fact too similar to co-exist with their own use of Meta. So, according to Meta: Meta IS too similar to MetaFans and MetaStreet, but it is NOT too similar to MetaByte, MetaX, and MetaCapital. Luckily, we aren’t the ones that have to make that argument make sense, they are!

Next, we have Threads!

In case you missed it, Threads, an alternative to X (formerly Twitter aka another company that maybe makes some hasty decisions without listening to their lawyers), launched a few months ago.

This text based platform is connected to Instagram, which is also owned by Meta, and is doing pretty well in my opinion (@lawyerkelli_ over on Threads, come say hi!). Well, aside from this legal issue that is.

So, here’s the tea. A British company was already using the name “Threads” under the name “Threads Software Limited” and trademarked their brand back in 2012 in the U.K. What the British company spilled was piping hot: Meta tried to purchase their trademark 4 times and they declined. Meta then went ahead and launched Threads anyway.

This is another one of those scenarios where Meta’s lawyers probably alerted them to this risk by doing a comprehensive trademark search, leading them to attempt to purchase a domain name for “threads.app” from the British company in the first place. When that failed, Meta likely figured they have deeper pockets than the British co and decided to take them on. I mean, what’s another infringement lawsuit when you’ve already got a few lined up.

When it comes to trademarks, you don’t get a monopoly over the name you use (or register) for absolutely any industry, or any type of goods or services. You apply for a trademark in specific classes of goods and services based either on what you are already using (selling), or what you intend to use (sell) within the next few years.

Threads Software Limited is a cloud based software company with a messaging hub for businesses. Threads (Meta’s brand) is also software and app-based services, so clearly there is some overlap in services. If either company was using the brand for something entirely different, there may not be an infringement issue at all because the potential for consumers to be confused between the 2 companies, and believe there could potentially be a connection, would be a lot less.

Threads Software Limited didn’t bring a lawsuit yet, but they threatened to take legal action if Meta continues to (allegedly) infringe on their brand. There’s a couple of ways this could end up going. Meta could settle, which is likely considering how big Meta is. If you want to take on a big company like that, you have to either be willing and financially able to fight, or you settle. If they don’t settle, could Threads have to change their name? And if not everywhere, at least in the U.K.? The U.K. is where the British company has their trademark and would likely be bringing suit. Which brings me to another interesting point for our next blog post: brands that use a different name in different countries!

Stay tuned to see what Meta does with all of these lawsuits, and if they end up wishing they listened to their lawyers or if they just open up their wallet and let it go.

In the meantime, if you’re a small business owner, don’t skip this:

Always be the first to file a trademark. If you are not first, it’s pretty likely you are going to have to be the one to rebrand, unless you have the money to stop them.
Use a lawyer to do it right the first time. We’ll start with a comprehensive search to assess the risk level. I’m not going to tell you what to do, I”m going to tell you what else is out there, and how risky it is, and let you decide whether you want to take on that risk or choose a different name.

Ready to step it up and own your brand with a trademark? We’ve got you. Book a trademark consultation today!