Facebook hit with lawsuit over new Timeline feature

[err0r]

A small Chicago website wants to preserve its slice of history, and will take Facebook to court in order to do so.

 

Timelines.com, which hosts a user-generated, illustrated tour of what happens on this day in human history, claimed in a filing last Thursday in Illinois Northern District Court that Facebook has infringed on its trademarks and threatens its existence with the upcoming Timeline feature.

 

The problem is with names, not content, as Mark Zuckerberg’s social media behemoth is set to release a redesigned user profile, renamed “Timeline.”

 

Rather than presenting a user’s history as a chronological jumble, where each new event and status update bumps off older entries, timeline allows each user to build a page of personal highlights.

 

“With timeline, now you have a home for all the great stories you’ve already shared. They don’t just vanish as you add new stuff,” wrote Facebook product manager Sam Lessin after the official announcement on Sept. 22.

 

Timelines.com, which has been around since 2007, says the Facebook buzz comes at the expense of its livelihood.

 

In its suit, the website says that, “Given the size and reach of Facebook,” the new feature “will essentially eliminate Timelines and leave the public with the confusing impression that plaintiff Timelines is somehow affiliated with Facebook.”

 

The trademarks to Timelines and Timelines.com are registered to the Chicago firm.

 

The Facebook upgrade, currently in the beta-testing stage, is available to developers. (Resourceful regular users can get themselves into the inner circle by typing “developer” in the Facebook search box).

 

The company has indicated that a full public release of timeline is due within weeks, and has not indicated whether the lawsuit will change the timing.

 

At the time the suit was filed, Timelines.com complained that Facebook had removed its page from the social media site, but it has since been reinstated.