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Facebook sues TeachBook.com for cybersquatting

Kevin Murphy, August 24, 2010, Domain Policy

All your “book” are belong to us?
Facebook has filed a cybersquatting and trademark infringement lawsuit against TeachBook.com, a social networking site for teachers.
The suit claims the site unfairly capitalizes on the Facebook trademark by using the “book” portion of the mark to evoke the idea of social networking.
According to the complaint, one of TeachBook’s selling points is that many schools ban teachers from using Facebook in order to prevent kids extorting them using personal information.
I don’t know how popular the site is — it doesn’t look like much — but it appears that TeachBook also owns a trademark on its brand.
I doubt this kind of claim would hold up under UDRP rules (unless a “friendly” panelist got the case), which is probably why Facebook has resorted to the US courts.
CourthouseNews.com has a PDF of the complaint and exhibits.