Meta Infinity-Logo Lawsuit With Nonprofit Comes To A Finite End
San Francisco federal court has ended a loop between Meta and blockchain nonprofit Dfinity Foundation over its logo of an infinity symbol.
Last year, the Swiss organization—touted as an “infinite” public network—sued the social media giant, asserting that the latter’s new emblem from its rebrand from Facebook would likely confuse users.
As seen in legal documents published by Reuters, Meta has described its trademark as a “continuous loop” in the shape of the letter ‘M’, denoting “infinite horizons in the metaverse.”
Dfinity filed to protect its trademark in 2018, after introducing the logo in 2017. Meanwhile, the Mark Zuckerberg-founded company submitted a trademark filing for its new infinity symbol in March 2022.
The spat had previously been tossed aside last November, but Dfinity was given a chance to revise its complaint, and it did so in December. Back in November, US District Judge Charles Breyer took Meta’s side and concluded that consumers weren’t likely to mix the two infinity symbols up, largely because Dfinity’s community was made up of “tech-savvy developers.”
On Monday, both Meta and Dfinity requested to have the dispute dismissed with prejudice, meaning their case cannot be escalated further.
As per Reuters, Meta says Dfinity backed down after Meta highlighted “defects” in the amended suit.
A spokesperson for Meta adds that the company is “pleased with the outcome of the case.”
Meta remains entangled in trademark lawsuits with MetaX, an AR/VR company, and Metacapital, an investment advisory firm, due to associations with their names. In the case of MetaX, the firm alleged that Meta was aware of its existence as a Facebook employee had attended a MetaX event and reached out for a collaboration. Metacapital asked for at least US$60 million in damages in September, and it also argued that the company knew about its trademarks.
[via Reuters and Seeking Alpha, images via various sources]
