Social Network Cybersquatting is apparently very real, and taken seriously. Does you or your client’s username on a social networking website such as Facebook, Twitter, or Myspace infringe on a trademark owner’s intellectual property rights? Are you or they registering names with the hope that they will be of value? Social networks are implementing policies to prevent such infringement.

For example, Facebook’s policy is as follows:

“Facebook reserves the right to remove and/or reclaim any username at any time for any reason.”
“If you wish to report that someone’s username infringes your intellectual property rights, please fill out our username infringement form.”

With new social networks being developed on a regular basis (to add to the hundreds or thousands that already exist), social network cybersquatting is likely to gain extensive treatment and attention in the terms of use the networks employ.

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