Just how strongly Facebook – I mean Meta – feel about their rebrand is about to be put to the test. A small PC company is asking for $20 million to abandon their claim to the name.
You would think that a global behemoth like Facebook would do their research and get their office in order before announcing to the world they are changing their company name to Meta. However, if you did think that, it would appear you thought wrong.
A small company that focuses on selling computers, software, tablets, and other technology applied to trademark the name ‘Meta PC’ recently, although they claim to have been operating under said name for over a year. And while they are most definitely the David in this David vs. Goliath scenario, they aren’t prepared to back down without a fight.
In hindsight, it isn’t particularly surprising there was already a company doing business under what is, let’s face it, a deliberately faceless and general name. What is far more unbelievable is that Facebook didn’t sort it out before making their announcement last week.
Luckily, the founders of Meta PC are prepared to play nice with Facebook/Meta, but Zuckerberg will have to open his big boy wallet if he wants the smaller Arizona, USA based company to step aside.
— META PCs (@METAPCs) October 28, 2021
The team at Meta PC are calling for at least $20 million to part ways with their brand name, although it should be noted their trademark for the name is still pending. It’s entirely possible that Facebook, despite only announcing their rebrand a week ago, applied for a trademark before Meta PC.
Even if that’s the case, there are signs that the two companies may be able to come to some sort of mutually beneficial agreement. Meta PC’s founders, Joe Darger and Zack Shutt, have a rather novel solution in mind: they are willing to trade the Meta trademark for the Facebook one.
So, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what Zuckerberg wants to do.
an announcement regarding our new name from our founder @zackshutt pic.twitter.com/I7tofqPa6Z
— META PCs (@METAPCs) October 28, 2021
If your interested in why the terms meta and metaverse seem to be on the tip of everyone’s tongue, take a closer look right here.
