TheFacebook.com : A Trademark Infringement?

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When we talk of social networking sites, many of us think of Facebook, which of course lives up to its trademark – TheFacebook. With millions of users around the globe, Mark Zuckerberg’s social networking site is indeed TheFacebook, if you get my drift. However, as expected from any idea that hits the pot of gold at the end of that double rainbow (and this is a very rare occurrence), his has also been subjected to a series of ugly and messy legal disputes. These have been perpetrated by his college ‘chums’ the most recent of which is Aaron Greenspan. So what exactly are the contentions against the site?

• First off, Facebook is a generic term, in Harvard at least. It used to refer to photos of incoming freshmen students of the university. These photos were printed then distributed presumably around the campus.

• Second, ConnectU founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra state that Zuckerberg stole the idea from them after he was hired to work on their website. Simply put, they and other people who were involved in the creation of ConnectU particularly Sanjay Mavinkurve, Joe Jackson, and Victor Gao may have a right to ownership of TheFacebook brand due to the idea originating from their own.

• Third, as if the claim of the aforementioned individuals was not enough, Greenspan figured into the picture by saying that months before Zuckerberg launched his site, he used the term The Facebook to refer to a component of his online service called houseSYSTEM.

• Finally, Zuckerberg seems to be pushing his college friend and website co-founder, Eduardo Saverin out of the ownership portrait due to money fights.

Of course Zuckerberg is appalled by all the shots against him and his million dollar baby and no one blames him for feeling this way. But after reading the above arguments, do you now think that TheFacebook is a trademark infringement? Or is the world just full of envious people who want to cash in on something big?