British software company Threads Software Limited has issued a 30-day ultimatum to Meta (Nasdaq: META), the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to cease using the name “Threads” in the UK, citing its ownership of the trademark.
The company’s legal representatives sent a letter to Meta on Monday, warning that failure to comply will result in Threads Software Limited seeking a court injunction.
Threads Software Limited originally trademarked the name “Threads” in 2012 for its intelligent messaging hub, which offers cloud-based storage for emails, tweets, and voice over internet protocol phone calls.
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After four unsuccessful offers to purchase the domain name “threads.app” from them by Meta’s lawyers, the British company was removed from Facebook when Meta launched its social media app, “Threads,” designed to rival Elon Musk’s platform, X.
“We recognize that this is a classic ‘David and Goliath’ battle with Meta,” said John Yardley, the managing director of Threads Software Limited. “And whilst they may think they can use whatever name they want, that does not give them the right to use the Threads brand name.”
Related: Are Brands Giving Up on Threads?
Meta’s Threads app gained swift popularity, becoming the fastest app to reach 100 million signups within five days, partly due to its integration with Instagram. Many of these users, including some major brands, abandoned the platform shortly after but Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in the third-quarter earnings call last week that the platform has now managed to get “just under” 100 million monthly users since the launch in July.
“We’re three months in now, and I’m very happy with the trajectory,” he said. “We’re now getting to the point where we’re going to be focusing on growing the community further. From what we can tell, people love it so far.”
As of this writing, Meta has not commented on the UK trademark issue.
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