Facebook Announces Settlement of Legal Dispute With Aaron Greenspan | Hacker News Reader

Facebook Announces Settlement of Legal Dispute With Aaron Greenspan

insidefacebook.com

However, in 2005, Facebook was awarded a trademark for the term “Facebook” by the USPTO. Facebook was then awarded a second trademark in 2006. Greenspan had since filed petitions to have the USPTO revoke both of Facebook’s trademarks, saying he had used the term first.

This is all a little ridiculous. "Facebook" has for years been used as a slang term for the Harvard Freshman Register, which contains headshots of the members of the incoming class. When every dorm room comes equipped with a T1 Ethernet jack, putting the Facebook online is about as forehead-slappingly obvious as you can get.

The first time someone---a much more recent grad---asked me if I was in "The Facebook" (meaning the website), I was deeply confused, and asked "You have a 1992 Facebook?" The reply was full of pity: "No, it's a website", and I could hear in her voice, And you must be old!

Congrats Aaron! Ignore the haters.

Lest we rehash an unnecessary, counter-productive, and very mean-spirited discussion, here it is. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=505291.

Thanks for the link.

I remember reading that, and thinking that Aaron was an idiot that I should hate. Now that I have thought about the issue for a while, and read more about it, I don't feel that way at all. I am glad I didn't say anything in that thread.

Aaron, if you're reading this, I have a question for you from this release: what happened?

Was it just a verbal/written confirmation that you did, in fact, contribute to FB from Zuck, or was there an exhange of some monetary value for the resolve?

The Facebook release is worded like it was carefully negotiated:

http://www.facebook.com/press/releases.php?p=102338

It's likely the settlement limits further discussion of the matter by the parties, other than pointing people to negotiated statements like the Facebook press release.

It's rare to have the plaintiff as an active member of your community. Any comments, thinkcomp, or is this a hush-hush type of settlement?

To hell with the idea stealers, I encounter them all the time. F%%%ing thieves.

But hey, for $65 million something can be arranged!

Thumbs up aaron, was well smelly and good that you get something for your contribution.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com