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8 September 2022TrademarksMuireann Bolger

NY financial services company queues up to sue Meta

Facebook’s parent company faces a spate of lawsuits since its rebrand last year | Complaint centres on platform’s alleged desire to gain traction in financial sector.

The parent company of Facebook and Instagram, Meta Platforms, is facing yet more accusations of trademark infringement over the word mark ‘Meta’.

Financial company, Metacapital Management, filed a complaint at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, yesterday, September 7.

Back in October, Facebook announced that it was changing its name from Facebook,—which it had used for over 17 years—to ‘Meta’.

New markets

The lawsuit argues that although Facebook has been largely known as a social media platform for the majority of its existence, it has become increasingly clear that

It plans to expand into several other sectors, including the financial services sector.

For example, the complaint holds that as early as 2019, Facebook was publicly promoting new initiatives that had the explicit goal of enabling universal access to all types of financial services.

This allegedly included efforts by Facebook’s founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, who provided testimony to the US Congress on Facebook’s plans for expansion into the financial services sector.

Additionally, Metacapital argued that in 2020, Facebook created a new unit devoted to financial services—Facebook Financial.

Over the past two years, this unit has increased in importance for Facebook, and changed from Facebook Financial to Novi to, most recently, Meta Financial Technologies, according to the complaint.

Junior rights

The lawsuit also noted that Facebook publicly confirmed that it paid $60 million to purportedly acquire the trademark rights of a regional bank named Meta Financial Group—rights that were allegedly junior to those of Metacapital.

The lawsuit contends that since 2001, Metacapital has provided industry-leading financial management and advisory services, particularly in the mortgage and structured credit markets, under its trademark.

“Over the past 20 years, Metacapital has earned a well-deserved reputation for its outstanding service and has been recognised in various rankings of the nation’s top funds…”, said the suit.

The plaintiff went on to insist that Metacapital has routinely used the shorthand ‘Meta’ to refer to itself, and that consumers have come to associate Metacapital and its services with the ‘Meta’ mark.

‘Significant harm’

According to the complaint, Facebook’s use of the ‘Meta’ mark in connection with financial services—and clear plans to continue and expand such use in connection with these and similar services—is likely to cause significant harm to Metacapital’s business.

“Consumers are likely to believe, incorrectly, that Metacapital is associated with Facebook for the rest of Metacapital’s corporate existence, or else is attempting to trade off of and infringe on Facebook’s purported rights, causing further substantial harm to Metacapital,” it added.

The lawsuit follows a July complaint, which saw a company specialising in virtual-reality experiences, MetaX, accusing Meta Platforms of ripping off its name to gain a foothold in the metaverse.

In November, a Chicago-based tech firm called Meta Company sued Facebook over claims that the social network stole its name and ‘livelihood’ after it rebranded.

Metacapital’s complaint was filed by Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom. Counsel has not yet appeared for the defendant.

The case is 1:22-cv-07615, Metacapital Management v Meta Platforms.

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