A virtual reality company called Meta filed a lawsuit against Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, accusing it of trademark infringement.
According to Business Insider, the company was founded in 2010 as MetaX LCC, applied for its trademark in 2016, and was successfully registered in 2020.
Zuckerberg’s giant tech company rebranded to Meta in October 2021, a move in which saw the company shifting its focus to the metaverse. According to the lawsuit, the other company says that Facebook’s rebrand has affected its business.
“Meta has been crushed by Facebook’s flagrant, unlawful conduct,” the company said.
The MetaX founder said that they have tried to negotiate with Facebook but it didn’t yield any results.
“Today, after eight months of trying to negotiate with Facebook in good faith to no avail, we were left with no choice but to file a lawsuit against them,” Founder Justin Bolognino said in a statement posted on Instagram.
“The lawsuit alleges that Facebook infringed META’s federally registered trademarks and common law trademark rights, and engaged in egregious acts of unfair competition,” he added.
Bolognino says that he wants Facebook to take accountability for its actions. According to Business Insider, Bolognino wrote to Meta in December 2021 voicing concerns that the rebrand could harm his business.
“We have produced acclaimed campaigns with extraordinary creators, producers, and technologists across every Reality possible, including social VR, AR, XR, immersive music experiences, and IRL,” Bolognino said.
“Facebook talks a big game about supporting creators, but the proof is in their actions. If they’re willing to blatantly seize our IP and use it in the same spaces we have operated in for more than a decade, we can’t imagine what’s coming when they further saturate our industry and dominate the “metaverse”,” Bolognino expressed.
