Meta Faces Trademark Lawsuit by New York-Based VR Firm MetaX: Details

Facebook proprietor Meta Platforms Inc was hit with a trademark lawsuit in Manhattan federal court docket on Tuesday by MetaX LLC, an organization that creates immersive virtual-reality experiences, for allegedly stealing its title for its pivot to the metaverse.

New York-based MetaX told the court docket it had been “crushed” by Facebook’s rebrand and mentioned its “ability to operate as Meta has been eviscerated.”

It accused Meta Platforms of infringing its federal “Meta” emblems, and requested a court docket order that blocks the social media firm from utilizing “Meta” for items and companies that overlap with MetaX’s in addition to an unspecified sum of money damages.

Meta Platforms rebranded from its eponymous social networking platform in October 2021, betting that the metaverse, a shared digital realm, will succeed cellular web.

MetaX’s founder, Justin “JB” Bolognino, mentioned in a press release that Meta Platforms had “not only put our business in jeopardy, but that of the entire industry and the intellectual property rights of the innovators that have helped build it.”

Meta Platforms didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

MetaX specialises in “experiential and immersive technologies” utilizing applied sciences like VR and augmented actuality.

The firm mentioned within the lawsuit it had mentioned a possible partnership with Facebook in 2017, and {that a} Facebook government had praised one in every of MetaX’s experiences that yr as “amazing” and “spectacular.”

MetaX mentioned Meta Platforms’ new deal with the metaverse and associated VR and augmented-reality expertise overlaps with its enterprise and that it has began offering related “immersive experiences” at a few of the similar locations the place it hosted its reveals, together with Coachella and South by Southwest.

MetaX mentioned Meta Platforms’ rebrand will drive it out of {the marketplace}, and that it has already brought about folks to mistakenly imagine the businesses are affiliated.

© Thomson Reuters 2022