Facebook Attempting to Trademark 'Face'

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has given the company six months to show it uses the word “face” as a trademark.

If you’re trying to set up a company called FaceLook, FaceBall, or FacePhone, you could soon be out of luck. The social networking site first filed a notice that it would trademark the word “face” for proprietary uses in 2005, and earlier this week the U.S. patent office moved the process into its next phase. The trademark would only cover uses of the word in online social and entertainment contexts. Aaron Greenspan, who owns a company called FaceCash and claims to have helped Mark Zuckerberg create Facebook while they were at Harvard together, originally opposed the patent but never filed an official opposition to it.