[imagesource: Facebook]

It’s been just shy of a week since Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook’s (the company) name would change to Meta, and already that’s proving to be a problem for the integrity of the company.

Not only is a move towards the metaverse a way for Zuckerberg to brush all the bad things Facebook did under the carpet, but the actual name has run into issues of its own.

That’s because it seems a company selling computers, laptops, and software for gamers had the name Meta long before Zuckerberg made the announcement.

Founders Joe Darger and Zack Shutt said that they’ve been operating Meta PCs for a little over a year now, but only recently filed to trademark the “Meta” brand.

The Guardian has reported that Meta PCs filed to trademark the name back in August.

Now I have more reason to believe that this is really how the Facebook name change went down:

I bet the Arizona-based company had no idea that it would become a household name so rapidly.

The trademark has not been granted yet, but it looks like Darger and Shutt won’t go down without a fight, or the demand of a hefty sum of money.

IGN noted that they will relent on the trademark if Mark Zuckerberg is willing to pay at least $20 million.

You go, boys. Make the billionaire pay.

Unfortunately for Meta PCs, even though they have applied to trademark the name, there are loopholes that may still allow Facebook to come out on top.

This is according to Mark P McKenna, a professor at the UCLA School of Law:

One such measure is filing an applicationin another country and using that application date to file in the US – a practice often used by big companies.

“They look for a little country without a searchable system and then file there,” he told the Guardian. “That would be a way for them to have an earlier date.”

He added that trademark registration doesn’t define rights of a company in the US in this regard.

“In the US, rights aren’t created by trademark registration – the rights arise out of use,” he said.

As an organisation with only 25 employees, Meta PCs sure is up against a real giant:

“We’ve bootstrapped this company with our own personal funds. When we learned Facebook chose the same name, it was obviously a concern that we would lose whatever organic reach we had worked hard to build,” Shutt said, adding that they have “sizable investments” in branded content and influencer marketing in the works.

At least the OG Meta pair have an excellent sense of humour about the whole situation, which has already set their company ahead of Zucks’ by miles in my opinion.

Meme one:

pic.twitter.com/ttn9VkgZVv

— META PCs (@METAPCs) October 28, 2021

Meme two:

an announcement regarding our new name from our founder @zackshutt pic.twitter.com/I7tofqPa6Z

— META PCs (@METAPCs) October 28, 2021

The critics have also drawn attention to how Meta means death in Hebrew, so perhaps that will cause people to move away from the name and choose something completely new.

I vote Feta.

[sources:ign&theguardian]