MetaCompany Cries ‘Facebook Stole Our Name and Livelihood’

MetaCompany, a Chicago-based firm, released a damning statement decrying Facebook’s attempts to co-opt the name “Meta” as its parent company. Reportedly, the company posted a strongly-worded letter on the website meta.company.

However, experts are still assessing the authenticity of the post. They’re also checking if the actual MetaCompany posted the message or even owned the site.  

RELATED: Upcoming Facebook Rebrand Includes Changing Its Name

Facebook Announces Rebrand to Meta

Late last month, Facebook announced that the company is rebranding itself to reflect its planned transition to the metaverse. As a result, the name Meta will now apply to Facebook’s parent company.

The name change does not apply to individual platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Last month, founder Mark Zuckerberg announced the news as part of his “metaverse” plan.

He said wants users to transition from social media to completely socialize, play and work in a virtual environment. Right now, Facebook doesn't represent the totality of what they want to do. As a result, he stressed the need to change things up. 

“Over time, I hope that we are seen as a metaverse company and I want to anchor our work and our identity on what we’re building towards,” he told a virtual conference.

We’re now looking at and reporting on our business as two different segments, one for our family of apps, and one for our work on future platforms.

And as part of this, it is time for us to adopt a new company brand to encompass everything that we do, to reflect who we are and what we hope to build,” Zuckerberg added. 

Facebook Lawyers Gave a Lowball Offer To Buy The Name

However, in the meta.company website, a statement called out Facebook for stealing Meta’s name and its employees’ livelihood. The name given below the statement was that of Nate Skulic, founder of MetaCompany.

“For the last three months, Facebook lawyers have been hounding us to sell our name to them. We refused their offer on multiple bases.

Namely, the low offer wouldn’t cover the costs of changing our name, and we insisted on knowing the client and intent, which they did not want to disclose,” the statement read. 

“At least two law firms were involved: One in the USA that requested our trademark and domains (Kilpatrick, Townsend & Stockton), and the other in Europe aggressively contacting trying to get us to sell our domain registrations (Hogan Lovells),” it continued.

“On October 20th, 2021, during a phone call with Facebook attorneys, we declined their low offer and maintained our requirements. At this point, we presumed it was Facebook and identified them on the call.

The attorney representing Facebook declared they would respect our existing right and registration. However, Skulic said that Facebook proceeded to commit trademark infringement and call themselves “Meta” on October 28.

The company warned that they filed legal action against Facebook. In addition, the statement said to consider this statement as their public cease and desist.

Meta Logo Also Looks Similar To Another Company’s

Meanwhile, even Facebook’s new logo seems to have a doppelganger. M-sense is a German company that specializes in apps to help relieve migraines.

A day after the Facebook announcement, the company tweeted a photo comparing the logos of the two companies. M-sense even added a bit of mockery by adding a parting shot.

“We are very honoured that @facebook felt inspired by the logo of our migraine app – maybe they’ll get inspired by our data privacy procedures as well,” it said.  

Watch the CNET video reporting that Facebook changed its name to Meta. But does that mean you should trust it?

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What do you think of Facebook’s alleged lowball offer to buy a company name? What does it mean for Facebook if MetaCompany proceeds with its lawsuit?

Let us know what you think. Share your thoughts in the comments section below.