I run a small online community website called "FacesForFilms.com". Until recently we were called "FilmFaceBook.com" and once we reached around 1500 members, I was contacted by a facebook lawyer to stop infringing on their brand. Apparently I was damaging their business by supposedly causing confusion.
As it happened, I had just purchased 20 shirts and several posters with "filmfacebook.com" on them out of my own pocket. The site is a volunteer effort that I maintain to help the local film community.
Not wishing to have any dispute with arguably the largest web based corporation on the planet, I quickly complied with their request. Facebook, rumored to be partially funded by the US Dept. of Defence, is not an organization to be trifled with.
So, I changed the name of our little online community as fast as I could think of a new name and register it, and all is well. The lawyer said they would send me a t-shirt, and it just arrived. It has an FB logo on the front and on the back it says "I WAS CONTACTED BY FACEBOOK LEGAL, AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOUSY T-SHIRT"
So I did lose about $300 in the various branded things, but at least I got a laugh out of it.
Cheers to facebook for having a sense of humor. I certainly could have done a whole lot worse.
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So, after bullying people into giving up their brands - which have no likelihood of being confused with FB - the lawyers at Facebook add insult to injury by giving their victims a noogie with a pompous t-shirt. I'm glad that you found it funny. I find it exceedingly dickish. "Ha ha ha little man, sorry we stole your brand. Here's a t-shirt to wipe away your tears."
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