Meta sued by Meta PCs over trademark infringement

A week after Facebook announced a rebrand for its holding company, controversy starts to pour in.

Arizona-based company Meta PCs files lawsuits against Meta, holding company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. The company filed for ‘Meta’ trademark in August, a year after it started operating.

Meta PCs founders Joe Darger and Zack Shutt state that they are willing to sell the name for $20 million. The registration for ‘Meta’ trademark hasn’t been approved by the officials yet, but it could have the upper hand over the tech giant since they filed the application earlier.

The tech giant, on the other hand, applied for ‘Meta’ mark on 28 October according to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

While both can be classified as tech companies, Meta PCs sells computers, laptops, gadgets and software - a distinction that can result in different classification of goods and services in trademark application.

Trademark grants a company or owner of the mark legal protection for its brand and helps to identify its goods and services. However, it doesn’t prevent other companies from different industries from using it.