Facebook is concerned that a start-up social network for teachers with the word “book” in its title is infringing on its own trademarks, CNET reports. The company on Aug. 25 filed a complaint in a California district court against Teachbook, a networking site geared toward teachers. Claiming that Teachbook is “riding on the coattails of the fame and enormous goodwill of the Facebook trademark,” the complaint asserts that the start-up, which is headquartered in a suburb of Chicago, shouldn’t be using the “-book” suffix. “If others could freely use ‘generic plus BOOK’ marks for online networking services targeted to that particular generic category of individuals, the suffix ‘book’ could become a generic term for ‘online community/networking services’ or ‘social networking services.’ That would dilute the distinctiveness of the Facebook marks, impairing their ability to function as unique and distinctive identifiers of Facebook’s goods and services,” the lawsuit claims. Teachbook, which has not yet commented on the matter, doesn’t appear to imitate Facebook’s design or feel, but Facebook’s whole argument is that it doesn’t want the “-book” suffix to become a social-networking term independent of the Facebook brand. The complaint brings up, among other things, that Teachbook markets itself as a social-networking option for teachers whose schools might have blocked or forbidden access to social networks such as Facebook…
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Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.
Beware of fake Facebook ‘dislike’ button
Lots of people have clamored for a “dislike” button on Facebook, which so far only officially allows people to “like” content on its site. Now, some social-media spoilers are trying to turn the public’s desire for that dislike button into a scam, CNN reports. Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant at the British security firm Sophos, wrote in an Aug. 16 blog post that fake dislike buttons are going viral on Facebook. Watch out for posts that look like this, he says: “I just got the Dislike button, so now I can dislike all of your dumb posts lol!!” That statement on Facebook is typically followed with a link, Cluley writes, that takes people to a fake Facebook application. Instead of installing a dislike button, Cluley says, the application uses a person’s social network to continue spreading the fake program. “If you do give the app permission to run, it silently updates your Facebook status to promote the link that tricked you in the first place, thus spreading the message virally to your Facebook friends and online contacts,” he writes. Cluley says the fake dislike button is part of a recent trend of Facebook scams whose titillating links play on tech memes and themes from pop culture. Typically, such schemes are designed to steal information from internet users. That information then can be sold to other parties. The scams also can be used to co-opt an internet user’s social network contacts. If you accidentally installed the fake application, click on the “account” button at the top right of the Facebook home screen. Navigate to the option that says “application settings,” and disable the fake “dislike” application…
…Read MoreGoogle tweaks Buzz social hub after privacy woes
As it introduced a new social hub, Google quickly learned that people’s most frequent e-mail contacts are not necessarily their best friends, the Associated Press reports. Rather, they could be business associates, or even lovers, and the groups don’t necessarily mix well. It’s one reason many people keep those worlds separate by using Facebook for friends and LinkedIn for professional contacts, or by keeping some people completely off either social circle despite frequent e-mails with them. Google Inc. drew privacy complaints this week when it introduced Buzz and automatically created circles of friends based on users’ most frequent contacts on Gmail. Just days later, Google responded by giving users more control over what others see about them. Google introduced Buzz on Tuesday as part of its existing Gmail service. The service includes many of the features that have turned Facebook into the Web’s top spot for fraternizing with friends and family. Like Facebook, Buzz lets Gmail users post updates about what they are doing or thinking. Gmail users can also track other people’s updates and instantly comment on them for everyone else in the social circle to see. But while Facebook requires both sides to confirm that they are friends before making that relationship public, Google automatically does so by analyzing how often they’ve communicated in the past. Those frequent contacts become part of the circle of people you follow and who follow you.
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