Chicago company accuses Facebook of stealing ‘our name and livelihood’

Facebook recently rebranded as ‘Meta’ – but today a Chicago-based company has released a damning statement accusing the social media giant of stealing its name and livelihood.

The name change to Meta does not apply to its individual platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp – only the parent company.

Facebook’s billionaire founder Mark Zuckerberg announced the news as part of his plan to build a ‘metaverse’ where users can socialise online, game, and work in a virtual environment. The reason for the brand change was that, according to Zuckerberg, Facebook no longer ‘represented everything that we’re doing today, let alone in the future’ and emphasised the need for change.

He said in a virtual conference: “Over time, I hope that we are seen as a metaverse company and I want to anchor our work and our identity on what we’re building towards,” he told a virtual conference. We’re now looking at and reporting on our business as two different segments, one for our family of apps, and one for our work on future platforms.And as part of this, it is time for us to adopt a new company brand to encompass everything that we do, to reflect who we are and what we hope to build.”

However, in a statement released in protest of the name change, MetaCompany said: “For the last three months, Facebook lawyers have been hounding us to sell our name to them. We refused their offer on multiple bases. Namely, the low offer wouldn’t cover the costs of changing our name, and we insisted on knowing the client and intent, which they did not want to disclose.

“At least two law firms were involved: One in the USA that requested our trademark and domains (Kilpatrick, Townsend & Stockton), and the other in Europe aggressively contacting trying to get us to sell our domain registrations (Hogan Lovells).”

The statement from Nate Skulic, Founder of MetaCompany, continued: “On October 20th, 2021, during a phone call with Facebook attorneys, we declined their low offer and maintained our requirements. At this point, we presumed it was Facebook and identified them on the call. The attorney representing Facebook declared they would respect our existing right and registration. On October 28th, 2021, Facebook decided to commit trademark infringement and call themselves “Meta”.”

This is just the latest controversy to surround Zuckerberg’s company in recent years, and this is something that MetaCompany emphasised.

They stated: “They couldn’t buy us, so they tried to bury us by force of media. We shouldn’t be surprised by these actions — from a company that continually says one thing and does another. Facebook and its operating officers are deceitful and acting in bad faith, not only towards us, but to all of humanity. It’s unfortunate to have been associated with a company so rooted in controversy and fixated on domination. We aim to be distinguished from Facebook’s totalitarian view of the future. We hope the negative association with Facebook and its founder will be forgotten — but we won’t ignore the damages done.”

Following this heavy accusation, many will be asking, what will happen next?

MetaCompany concluded their statement: “We have proceeded to file the necessary legal actions. This message may be regarded as a public cease and desist. We welcome your support.

“One more thing: Our new product launch just got delayed because of Facebook. We must deal with these matters. In the coming weeks, we will make an announcement earlier than we expected. We promise it will be good. Stay tuned.”