Facebook Username Change - from Saturday 13 June

Fashionista has been made aware of Facebook's recent announcement that from today trade mark holders can record their trade marks with Facebook to prevent the registration of these trade marks as usernames. Their announcement was as follows :

"On Tuesday, June 9, Facebook, Inc., a social networking website company based in the United States, publicly announced that beginning Saturday, June 13th at 12:01 a.m. U.S. EDT, users of the Facebook website will be allowed for the first time to create personalized URLs for their Facebook pages (facebook.com/yourname). Facebook, Inc. has created an online form for rights owners interested in preventing their trademarks from being registered as usernames by Facebook users. Trademark owners can reserve their trademark on the Facebook platform by submitting relevant information to Facebook, Inc. through their trademark protection contact form, available at http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=username_rights. If you have further questions or concerns, please contact Facebook directly or see its Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page, available at http://www.facebook.com/help.php?page=896. "

Although the registration page implies that a trade mark registration (rather than application) is required, there is very little information provided as to eligibility or the evidence of the trade mark right required. Further, the online form requires the trade mark to be inserted together with its registration number, but without any box to insert the relevant jursidication.

While the form may not be perfect, it only takes 5 minutes to complete and will, according to Facebook, prevent a third party from incorporating your brand into their Facebook username. On this basis , it seems to Fashionista that it is worth spending the 5 minutes needed to register your brand and prevent someone else from getting there first!