The claim asks the court to declare that Facebook is not infringing and to cancel the marks because they are generic.--Courts have the power to cancel weak marks.
In its filing, Facebook provides examples to show that “timeline” is simply a descriptive, commonly-used word. Facebook says the U.S. Trademark office referred to such sites in November when it refused to expand the scope of Timelines.com’s trademarks. Facebook is playing a risky game here in choosing to fight not settle. It should be noted that Facebook’s campaign to proclaim “timeline” generic is a bit rich in light of the lawsuits it has filed to stop other companies from using “face” or “book” in their name.
The Chicago company, which still has a help-us-fight-Facebook message on its homepage, is represented by media law powerhouse Reed Smith. Once available, users can chart their entire Facebook history via Timeline, from their first friend to the most recent status update. Lessin told the New Zealand Herald that Facebook chose the country because its residents are primarily English speakers. Timeline was released to developers in September, and "since then, over a million people have signed up for the developer beta to access Timeline," Lessin said in his blog post. According to the FTC, Facebook "deceived customers by telling them they could keep their information on Facebook private, and then repeatedly allowing it to be shared and made public."
Facebook has announced that it will begin rollout of Timeline, starting with New Zealand. It’s been 2.5 months since Facebook unveiled the Timeline profile redesign at f8 and said the rollout would begin shortly.--Facebook will have to explain the privacy ramifications of Timeline very carefully. By making the entire history of a user’s Facebook activity more readily accessible, embarrassing or objectionable content could be surfaced if users don’t know to curate their Timelines properly. Facebook posted this statement about the New Zealand rollout to the original blog post announcing Timeline: “We announced Timeline in September and made it available to developers building apps on our platform. Since then, over a million people have signed up for the developer beta to access Timeline. The Timeline profile design allows users and their friends much easier access to their historical content, such as status updates or wall posts they made years ago.
If Facebook’s infrastructure can support the New Zealand rollout without slowing down the site or causing privacy hysteria, it will then continue the rollout. In other cases, Facebook tests products in the US first where early adopters are plentiful and market penetration, social graph density, and smartphone use is high.--Users can opt to publish their Timeline and replace their old profile with it during the review period, but the Timeline will automatically publish after 7 days. Most importantly, though, will be how Facebook handles messaging around privacy with Timeline. If Facebook doesn’t explain how crucial this is, users may inadvertently make it easier for parents and bosses to find racy photos and objectionable jokes.
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