Lamebook SUES Facebook

Facebook parody blog Lamebook.com has filed suit against Facebook to fend off impending litigation from the social network.

Lamebook, co-founded in 2009 by Texas-based graphic designers Jonathan Standefer and Matthew Genitempo, invites users to submit funny or embarrassing photos, status updates, wall posts and other tidbits from Facebook profiles.

According to Lamebook, Facebook has threatened the humorous blog with legal action over trademark infringement. TechCrunch reports that Facebook lawyers contacted Lamebook in March and requested that the Facebook-inspired site change its name and user interface.

Lamebook has responded by preemptively filing suit. "Lamebook's rationale is that it's a very obvious parody and hence is protected by the First Amendment," writes CNET.

In an email sent to both CNET and TechCrunch, a Facebook representative said that Standefer and Genitempo's site "is an improper attempt to build a brand that trades off Facebook's popularity and fame."

Over the summer, Facebook claimed "trademark dilution" against the similarly named Teachbook.

Comments

[jonester]

01:19 AM on 11/25/2010

Trademark dilution? You mean corporate greed?

[John Janney]

09:16 PM on 11/24/2010

Facebook doesn't understand privacy, so why should we expect them to understand that parody is protected free speech? I hope Facebook get's slammed!

[HappyBalance]

01:44 AM on 11/25/2010

Agreed.

[FB Purity]

11:14 AM on 11/23/2010

another site facebook tried to bully was http://www.fbpurity.com they seemed to think they own the right to the letters FB, as well as facebook, and anything with book on the end of it. luckily they did not succeed in getting fbpurity to hand over their domain name, despite the ridiculous bullying from facebook.

everyone knows that the word facebook was widely used in american universitys before they decided to call their website Facebook, so im not sure of their legal standing with regards to owning the copyright or trademark to that name, there are also lots of existing trademarks consisting of the letters "FB" to my mind they are standing on very shaky ground, and use these big threats to small sites as a way of bullying them into submission, as they know full well in a court of law they will fail to defend their shaky trademark

[FB Purity]

06:32 AM on 11/17/2010

goddamn facebook, they should just buy lamebook for a load of hard cash, and rename their site lamebook and be done with it

[lilylee86]

10:23 PM on 11/14/2010

Good article.
WinPST Share Outlook.

[jeffcarroll]

09:28 AM on 11/11/2010

a poorly thought-out pre-emptive measure at best. :$

[SmackontheWeb]

10:58 AM on 11/11/2010

How so? If that is not a viable defense then it would be ok for celebrities issue 'cease and desist' orders to impersonators and comedians using the celeb's 'likeness' (voice, mannerisms, dress..) in their acts.

[Max Shaw]

01:27 PM on 11/10/2010

Lamebook will most definitely lose. I dont really care for either anyway though..I'm wondering if the thumbs down icon on Lamebook is the reason why Facebook cant/wont create a dislike button on their site..Because they are in desperate need of one.

[omg wtf lol bbq]

02:54 AM on 11/12/2010

All this time I thought that Facebook was Lamebook. Now I know that Lamebook is Awesomebook, Facebook is sucksbook, and people I went to high school with more than a decade ago still suck at life.

[Maskanio]

08:07 AM on 11/10/2010

Typical American mentality, when we don't get our way we are so quick to sue.

[sweetsalad]

06:18 AM on 11/10/2010

Is this a preemptive strike? Lamebook is looking lame with this lawsuit. Lamebook wants operate using Facebook’s name and likeliness. That is so out of character. http://www.digitalundivide.com

[Bittern1980]

03:30 AM on 11/10/2010

Lamebook is going to have a tough time selling itself as a parody site when all it's actually imitating is Facebook's color scheme. Everything else on there is pure copypasta ripped directly from personal postings on Facebook, which is going to make a case for plagiarism or any other sort of "trademark dilution" pretty difficult.

Buttzucker really should've just left this one alone. Congratulations to Lamebook, though -- an otherwise flash-in-the-pan mockery site that just scored themselves ten truckloads of publicity by wisely calling Facebook on its threat.

[GossipSports]

05:02 PM on 11/09/2010

I love me some Lamebook! Zuckerpanties better get a life.

[cykodriven]

03:32 PM on 11/09/2010

Facebook sucks.

[jl4141]

10:27 AM on 11/09/2010

Is Lamebook any different from Failbook, which has been around for quite a while now?

[Bittern1980]

02:45 AM on 11/10/2010

They're nearly identical, but Lamebook started a few months ahead of Failbook.

[tortillaj]

08:27 AM on 11/09/2010

Facebook's pretty lame on it's own, thus I don't see the parody.

Lamebook loses the suit.

[aksudntpron]

07:07 AM on 11/09/2010

I don't care. Everyone and everything gets photocopied.