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They didn't call it the exact same name as another app. The Facebook app is called "Paper - stories from Facebook", the fiftythree app is called "Paper by FiftyThree". There is actually an app in the store called "Paper" but it's an entirely different thing.
Just like Facebook gets on practically everyone's case that has face or something like that in their name/domain.
 
Typical dick move from Zuck & Co. They should have known better and it's obvious there's an app out there that exists by this name already.
No. I don't like Facebook anymore than the next guy, but FiftyThree doesn't own the word "paper" anymore than King.com owns the word "candy" or "saga."
 
It looks to me that this application is mostly for people who have liked or subscribe to a lot of news websites. I do not see how this could replace RSS readers or news aggregators as the Facebook feed is extremely biased and curated.
 
Don't get me wrong, I can see why FiftyThree would be unhappy about Facebook's name choice but he does not own the word paper.

Granted, I know Candy Crush and that whole "candy" debacle is ongoing but still. One single person can't own a word like that. It sets one hell of a standard.


Edit to help:


Link :)

Oh dear, that means Apple ( a much loved fruit in the USA )have no right to claim copyright or trademark and were wrong to sue the Beatles music company...which in fact existed before a kid called Jobs took a byte from it?
 
Typical dick move from Zuck & Co. They should have known better and it's obvious there's an app out there that exists by this name already.

I hope this project will fail harder than the Facebook phone. I just don't see how anyone would replace the regular Facebook app with this.

Also, get rid of other useless apps like Facebook messenger, as the features are kind of already in the app.

Other failed Facebook projects:
-Chatheads
-Facebook Camera
-HTC Status
-HTC first
-Integrated Google (what happened to this idea)
-Polls
-Facebook Hashtags


Need I say more?


And I Want to Add to Say that They(FB) are Just " MANETIZING GREED " NOW !

If You Have Your Page, They(FB) are Displaying Total Number of People's " Likes " & People's " Talkings " on The Page under The Top Cover Photo.
But This Number IS " TOTALLY FRAUD " !!!!!!
I Have ScreenShotted Each Notification of My Friends' & Friends of My Friends' Likes on My Page which Summed Up to More or Less A Hundred Since I Created My Page This January.
But NOW They(FB) are Displaying The Number " People's Like " =12, " People's Talking " =2 (lol) !
What's The HELL Their Math??????
And I Noticed Some Sign over Those Number and Realized WHY The TRUE NUMBER IS NEVER DISPLAYED !
The Sign Says, " GET MORE LIKES " which Leads us to Watch The Video that HAVE PEOPLE TO BUY THEIR " PROMOTE PAGE " Things !

They(FB) now Ends UP to be REALLY RECKLESS GREED ! Or from The Scratch ?

They NEVER Responds to Answer My Inquiry about The Number.
Some Analyst Predicts FaceBook Will Lose " 80% " of Present Customers in A Cupple of Years or so.
I Really HOPE that's Going to Happen to Those who Deserve THAT !



P.S. After My Inquiry to FB, Even Notification DRASTICALLY REDUCED, LOL.
 
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Typical dick move from Zuck & Co. They should have known better and it's obvious there's an app out there that exists by this name already.

I hope this project will fail harder than the Facebook phone. I just don't see how anyone would replace the regular Facebook app with this.

Also, get rid of other useless apps like Facebook messenger, as the features are kind of already in the app.

Other failed Facebook projects:
-Chatheads
-Facebook Camera
-HTC Status
-HTC first
-Integrated Google (what happened to this idea)
-Polls
-Facebook Hashtags


Need I say more?
Chatheads failed on the iPhone...because of Apple. It was pointless to have them only available within the app which is what Apple required. On Android, they are a much better feature since they are available wherever you may be within the OS.
 
It's been mentioned that 53 "don't own the right to the word: Paper" and this is true. And Facebook have no obligation to name their software anything other than what they think is relevant. One could even argue that a "newspaper" is more associated than a "sketchpad" is to the word 'paper'.

There are a couple of things here:

If 53 were really upset about Facebook using the same name as them then they have done the right thing. Legally there's nothing for them here, but ethically they have made their point. A bigger company has marched in and slammed the door shut on their baby, and it's perhaps harder for them to recover from or to fight against than it would be for a larger corp. like FB.
i know how this feels : I'm a photographer and I've had my ideas taken by a photographer who is more well known than I am. There's nothing that I can do and proving that someone has stolen a concept is sketchy at best, even if he knows and I know the truth. The only thing I could do was bring it to other's attention (much like 53s open letter) so that in the long term I could hand on heart say that I wasn't the plagiarist in this. It's a statement, and it draws a line.

The other thing is that 53 are not the only app to use "paper" to identify themselves, but they are the only ones to have made the publicity rich decision to address Facebook head on. It's not going to do them any harm and makes for awesome damage limitation. It's a huge news story and a lot cheaper than advertising.

Facebook won't change the name, but I think 53 won't be hurt by this.
 
The first link had expired,

Sorry, not sure how to link to the search results.

You can search here for "fiftythree".
http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=searchss&state=4802:wgqzxo.1.1

and the second says "Paper by 53". This tells me that the term "paper" was never meant to be a stand-alone marketing term due to its vagueness.

That's true. But you originally said that they only trademarked the term for sketching, which the link shows to be false.

----------

No one should be able to trademark paper or candy. It's just stupid.

How is it stupid? If I want to call my store "Paper", why should it be okay to open another store next door called exactly the same thing?

What's wrong is expecting the trademark to apply to other combinations of words that contain the word "paper" if you are in an market that deals with paper.
 
I've played around with this more. This definitely won't ever replace Zite or Pulse as long as the app has to be scaled for the iPad mini. I do love the app though, it is nice. I haven't used the Facebook app in ages because it was terrible on my devices. This doesn't seem to be the case.

Also, search paper in the app store and you don't find this app. You need to add the word "stories" after it. I don't think 53 has a leg here since they didn't seem to fight Bamboo Paper and the likes. I love that 53 app more than Facebook, but I just don't think they have a case. That's my armchair lawyer opinion.
 
Honestly FiftyThree's trademarks are actually for "Paper by FiftyThree" and not just generically "Paper". Legally Facebook are completely in their right to name it what they want to.

I don't not believe you but proof of this would be nice.

""Paper by FiftyThree" is trademarked in the United States and in several additional countries..."

The proof is written in the article, last couple of lines.
Also check out Google and do some quick searches - you'll come up with the trademark submissions for the USA and also Australia by FiftyThree :)
 
Hard to react to this...

I trademarked the letter 'i' and the word 'I'. You may no longer use it freely. The license fee is $0.001 for the letter 'i' and $0.01 for the word 'I'.

No, you can not trademark the letter i. Please submit proof of the trademark for the letter I and what product exactly your trademark applies to or you're...

I assume you think you're funny. You're not.

If I say you're lying I could be sued.

If I say you're an idiot for posting something so, well....., I'd likely be threatened by an admin for name calling, so I won't say that.

Since I really don't want to loose the ability to post here I guess this kind of post gets to stay while something logical and well thought out can't have the time of day.

I can say thank you for raising the noise floor.
 
Suddenly everyone is a trademark expert.

Can we get another story about the patent litigation, I liked it more when everyone was a patent expert.
 
What if Facebook used the word 'Pages'?
As in "Facebook Pages" or "Pages from Facebook" or just "Pages" like Apple's own apps in the App Store? If it's the latter, it seems obvious that you can use the exact same name as an existing app.

By the way, everyone is sort of siding with FiftyThree even though their app is named "Paper by FiftyThree" but who's defending the app that's actually named "Paper"? Yep, it's here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/paper/id474402870?l=en&mt=8

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I hope this project will fail harder than the Facebook phone. I just don't see how anyone would replace the regular Facebook app with this.

Also, get rid of other useless apps like Facebook messenger, as the features are kind of already in the app.

It's already better than the Facebook app in it's first iteration and messenger is built in.
 
FYI, it is findable now in the app store by searching for "paper facebook".
The actual name is: Paper - stories from Facebook
 
Facebook obviously knows it has more money and more lawyers than FiftyThree.
 
Suddenly everyone is a trademark expert.

Can we get another story about the patent litigation, I liked it more when everyone was a patent expert.

What's your area of expertise? I agree, people seem to just make stuff up to fill in the gaps about something they think they've got a handle on, but there are one or two members who know their stuff.
FWIW I've studied patent, copyright and trademark law to some extent, and enjoy a small percentage of these news stories, mostly because they're hyper theoretical or make interesting case studies to while away the hours distracting me from doing what I'm actually supposed to be getting on with in my own sad and meaningless life with no quantifiable similarities to the kinds of wealth and legal issues associated with such stories about litigation from huge corporations like Facebook. With that in mind, there's little point in ANYBODY passing the time commenting on any of these articles as the day flashes by.

What's your reason for being here?
 
What's your area of expertise? I agree, people seem to just make stuff up to fill in the gaps about something they think they've got a handle on, but there are one or two members who know their stuff.
FWIW I've studied patent, copyright and trademark law to some extent, and enjoy a small percentage of these news stories, mostly because they're hyper theoretical or make interesting case studies to while away the hours distracting me from doing what I'm actually supposed to be getting on with in my own sad and meaningless life with no quantifiable similarities to the kinds of wealth and legal issues associated with such stories about litigation from huge corporations like Facebook. With that in mind, there's little point in ANYBODY passing the time commenting on any of these articles as the day flashes by.

What's your reason for being here?

I am currently nearing the end of my transition from engineering to law. Though I have written about and studied various IP topics quite a lot lately, I wouldn't hold myself out to be an expert.

My reason for being here is the same as yours more or less. I find macrumors to be a lively and interesting community. Sometimes they even manage to be helpful. Also, it's an escape from the white walls that surround me.

The reason I get a bit peeved when people make semi-serious comments like "Quick, someone trademark the word 'pen'", is because I know it would have taken 30 seconds to go to a wikipedia article on trademarks and skim the first paragraph or two to become better educated on this topic; and realize how asinine that comment is. I do this all the time for topics I don't know much about; I'd hope other do too.
 
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