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FiftyThree files trademark for 'Paper' to take on Facebook

FiftyThree files trademark for 'Paper' to take on Facebook

By Rohan Swamy | Updated: 5 February 2014 19:35 IST

The news about the escalating conflict between social networking giant, Facebook and Seattle, New York-based app maker FiftyThree, over the similarity of the name of the apps, has already made headlines across the tech world. And now to counter the new app by Facebook, FiftyThree has decided to file a trademark for the name Paper. They already have a trademark for the name 'Paper by FiftyThree'.

It might sound absurd, given that the word Paper has been used prior to both the apps being created, but it also goes to show how FiftyThree is out there to prove a point to the social networking behemoth. It might sound impractical but it is important to note that Facebook too has in the past threatened companies and prevented anyone from even using the word 'Book' in their names.

We had reported on Tuesday, that the spat between the two companies was growing. It had all begun with the similarity of names of the original app called 'Paper by FiftyThree', and Facebook's new app for mobile called 'Paper- stories from Facebook'.

FiftyThree co-founder and CEO George Petschnigg had in his blog on the FiftyThree website written that Facebook had apologised for the name, but had still gone ahead and named their app similarly. Of course, Facebook had not responded to the demands to change the name. We now learn that FiftyThree has filed a trademark application (serial number 86180291) at the USPTO for the word 'Paper'.

Both the apps are very different in their basic usage. While 'Paper by FiftyThree' allows a user to draw, sketch, design, colour and outline, 'Paper- stories from Facebook' allows a user to organise his or her news feed and improve the overall user experience on an iOS device. But the similarity in the names was confusing users of the drawing app, who had written to FiftyThree asking if it had released a new app.

Last week, when the developer of the game Candy Crush Saga filed a trademark application for the words Candy and Saga to protect its games, too had made news.

Facebook still hasn't responded back to the controversy. On the other hand, George Petschnigg has asked Facebook, in his blog post, to "build a brand name of their own" and to stop "using our brand name." Whether FiftyThree will actually win the trademark is a thing of the future, and how will it help them in their case against Facebook, is something that yet remains to be seen.

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