Meta: New Facebook logo troubles Berlin start-up M-Sense

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Dhe shock message reached Markus Dahlem early in the morning on his WhatsApp phone. An investor excitedly wrote to him as to whether he had protected the logo of his start-up.

Attached to the SMS was a screenshot of the new Facebook logo. Dahlem compared both company logos with each other – and was annoyed: “It was immediately clear to me that our entire brand image was practically in the can”, the founder of the Berlin start-up M-Sense tells in an interview with “Gründerszene”. What happened?

As previously speculated, Facebook announced its renaming on October 28th. The digital company will be called Meta in the future. The name change should signal that Facebook has long been more than just the operator of the network of the same name, explained founder Mark Zuckerberg.

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In addition, the name also reflects the new strategy. In the coming years, Meta intends to build a so-called metaverse, a virtual world in which people can meet and exchange ideas via VR headsets. In addition, Zuckerberg showed the new company logo mentioned above – an intertwined blue M.

New Facebook logo is similar to start-up logo

A serious problem for M-Sense founder Markus Dahlem. Because the meta logo is almost identical to that of his start-up. The green logo of the Berlin health company is also adorned with an intertwined M, it is supposed to symbolize the repetitive attacks of a migraine.

“Except for the color, there is hardly any difference to be seen,” says the doctor with a doctorate in physics, who has developed an app against the chronic disease. The program creates a treatment plan based on individual symptoms and helps with exercises.

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Dahlem’s company is pursuing a completely different business model than the multi-billion company from California. But the founder is not only forced to adapt his logo because of possible mix-ups: He fears above all that the many prejudices against Facebook in handling user data could also seriously damage his company.

“Data is crucial in order to properly manage a treatment, it is also a highly sensitive asset, so we rely on the trust of the user,” says Dahlem.

This is one of the reasons why the start-up has already decided to attack. On the short message service Twitter, MSense published a post with an image montage showing the logos of both companies side by side.

“Mark Zuckerberg has a brand problem”

Facebook has a new name: CEO Mark Zuckerberg explains that the parent company is now called Meta. Benedikt Fuest, IT reporter for the WELT business editorial team, explains the background.

In addition, a sarcastically worded text: You are honored that Facebook was “inspired” by the app’s logo. “Perhaps they are also inspired by our data protection principles,” so the wording. The tweet didn’t go undetected for long. More than 10,000 retweets and 50,000 likes were received within a few hours.

The same post reached almost 250,000 “likes” on the LinkedIn career portal. “Of course we didn’t expect this response, but we didn’t want to let our anger go unchallenged,” Dahlem explains.

Lawsuit against the Facebook logo is not very promising

There are good reasons why the founder chose Twitter and not a lawyer. Because a warning or even a lawsuit against Meta would have little chance of success for the Berlin company.

“From my point of view, the logos are not similar enough to justify a risk of confusion under trademark law,” explains David Geßner, specialist lawyer for copyright and media law, to “Gründerszene”. This means that a logo is also copyrighted be protectable, they would first have to reach a “certain height of creation”, so there must be an artistic achievement. According to Geßner, this is not the case in this specific case.

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Failures and revelations

In the M-Sense logo, which Meta is said to have served as a template, you can only see a “graphically simple infinity symbol.” The same applies to the Meta logo: “If you accept the copyright protection of the logo because you If the level of creation is affirmed, there is nevertheless no copyright infringement, since the distance between the two signs is large enough according to the shape and color of the design. “

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In addition, similar logos are already being used by other software companies, which, according to Geßner, tends to reduce the likelihood of confusion. The trademark law expert advises founders to register supposedly innovative logos with the German Trademark and Patent Office as early as possible, ideally as a combined word and figurative mark.

Start-ups should then use tools to permanently check the network for copies – and take action if they suspect it. “Otherwise the logo like M-Sense threatens to be watered down because there are more and more similar logos,” explains Geßner. The expert advises against using logo templates online or even online tools for creative company names.

M-Sense founder Markus Dahlem, these tips no longer help. Because he has not protected his logo, he will not be able to avoid revising it. He wants to commission an agency with the rebranding soon. What costs does this mean for him and his company? According to the founder, he cannot yet estimate that.

This text comes from a cooperation with the magazine “Gründerszene”. Click on the links, leave welt.de and land in the articles at gruenderszene.de.

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