Facebook and TiVo are wrestling over an icon of the digital
media age -- the "thumbs up" indicator -- with the social-media giant arguing
the DVR maker has no valid trademark claims on tiny gloved thumbs.
TiVo last October formally challenged Facebook's 2010
registration of a "thumbs up" mark for its "Like" feature, familiar to the
site's 1 billion-plus users worldwide. The DVR company, in a complaint with the
U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, said it has used the "thumbs up" and
"thumbs down" icons in its DVRs since 1999 and that it would be harmed if
Facebook's "confusingly similar proposed thumb mark is allowed to register."
In a response filed Monday, Facebook said TiVo has "failed
to protect, police, and/or control those marks from widespread use and/or
failed to exercise quality control over its licensees resulting in abandonment
of its trademark rights."
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