Facebook parent Meta is dragged to court for trademark infringement by an already named company META

This is surprising, isn’t it?

Well, a 12-year-old company, also known as Meta, has announced it is suing the Mark Zuckerberg and his newly re-branded company Meta, for trademark infringement. The company says the disruptions caused by Facebook’s rebranding have impacted its business.

“On October 28, 2021, Facebook seized our META mark and name, which we put our blood, sweat, and tears into building for over twelve years,” according to the announcement.

The 12-year-old company, registered as MetaX LLC but using “Meta” in its trademark, filed a lawsuit in a Manhattan court on Tuesday.

According to the lawsuit, the company was established in 2010 and successfully registered the trademark in 2020, though it completed registration in 2016.

Facebook announced in October that it would change its name to Meta and shift its focus to the so-called Metaverse technology. So far, this includes VR and AR technologies.

MetaX claims it creates multi-sensory live experiences that ignite the human spirit with Technology, Design + Music + Storytelling. “We develop interesting technologies such as VR and AR.”

According to the lawsuit, the two companies’ logos are “conceptually identical” as they use a symmetrical “M”-like shape.

MetaX claims Facebook knew of its existence years before the Meta name change, citing an email exchange with a senior Facebook employee who saw Justin Bolognino, MetaX Founder host an event in 2017.

Following this, Facebook and Bolognino had further discussions on Meta’s products and services, which allowed Facebook to invite Meta to partner with Facebook on future work,” he said in the lawsuit. which they actually did without revealing details about the project.

The lawsuit also notes that Bolonino wrote to Meta in December 2021 expressing concerns that the rebrand could harm the business.

In a letter attached as evidence to the lawsuit, a Meta employee told Bolonino that the two companies “provide very different products and services.”

The lawsuit alleges that MetaX communicated with Facebook in “good faith” for eight months and provided the tech giant with documents about its trademark rights.

MetaX is now seeking an order to prevent Meta from continuing to use the word “meta” in relation to its business or services and to compensate for monetary damages.

It’s still not unclear how much or to what extent MetaX is willing. We’ll share necessary update as the news develops…