FiftyThree, the maker of the acclaimed sketchbook app Paper, is not letting up in a battle with Facebook over its brand name and has now filed a trademark application for the word “Paper.”
TechCrunch first spotted the USPTO filing Tuesday morning and noted that FiftyThree’s existing trademark is for “Paper by FiftyThree.” FiftyThree, which has offices in Seattle and New York, filed for the “Paper” trademark on Jan. 30 — the same day Facebook announced Paper, its own immersive news-reading app.
On Monday, FiftyThree CEO Georg Petschnigg penned a blog post on his company’s website that publicly called on Facebook to reconsider use of the name “Paper” for its new app.
“An app about stories shouldn’t start with someone else’s story,” Petschnigg wrote. “Facebook should stop using our brand name.”
This story is reminiscent of when Microsoft filed for a trademark in 2011 on the word “Charm” related to computer operating systems. The Redmond software giant also found itself in another trademark dispute a decade ago when fighting over Windows vs. Lindows.
