Facebook and American Farm Bureau may be close to settling FB trademark dispute.
Facebook is getting close to settling a trademark dispute with American Farm Bureau over the mark “FB”. It all comes down to one sentence.
The intriguing dispute started when Facebook filed a trademark application for “FB”. American Farm Bureau, a lobbying group for the agriculture industry, initiating proceedings with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to reject the trademark.
During the proceedings Facebook acquired the domain name FB.com from American Farm Bureau for what may have been over $8 million dollars. Although Mark Zuckerberg claimed the deal settled the dispute, that was not the case.
The two sides have been working on a settlement and it appears it is close. The latest filing from the parties asking for more time to settle the matter claims (pdf):
“The parties reported that they have an agreement in principle, that drafts have been exchanged between the parties, and that one issue in a single sentence remains to be addressed in the draft agreement.”
I can’t imagine what that one issue is, but it appears a settlement is near.
Hal Meyer says
Here’s the one sentence: “Mr. Zuckerberg will cease using the title ‘FB CEO, bitch!'”
Just kidding 😉
Stephen says
FB probably paid them a little more money to shut them up, my guess