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1. June 7, 2016
LET’S BE FRIENDS
PROTECTING YOUR
BRANDS ON THE
INTERNET
SOCIAL
NETWORKING &
TRADEMARKS
BY ERIC MACRAMALLA
PARTNER, GOWLING WLG
September 22, 2016

2. POOR LITTLE THESSA

3. 3

4. 4

5. TOP SOCIAL MEDIA

6. TOP FACEBOOK
6

7. TOP TWITTER
7

8. Of top 100 global companies…
• 65% have Twitter account
• 54% have Facebook account
• 50% have YouTube Channel
• 33% have Corporate blog
BRAND OWNERS ARE VERY
SOCIAL

9. • Advertise products/services
• Communicate news and special events
• Connect with customers
• Monitor customer satisfaction
BRAND OWNERS

10. • More than 1.3 billion active users
• Average user has 130 friends (none of which include me)
• People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook
• Average user is connected to 80 community pages, groups and
events
• 150 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their
mobile devices.
FACEBOOK

11. • 48% all Facebook users log on in any given day
• Total number of Facebook pages = 54,200,000
• Number of languages available on Facebook = 70
• 75% of users outside U.S.
• Number of Fake Facebook profiles = 81,000,000
• Facebook Revenue (2013) = $6,150,000,000
FACEBOOK
11

12. • 23% of users check their accounts more than 5 times a
day
• 18% of 18-34 year olds check Facebook when get out of
bed
• Average time spent on Facebook per visit = 18 minutes
• 350 million photos uploaded a day
FACEBOOK
12

13. • 200 million — April 2009.
• 250 million — July 2009.
• 300 million — September 2009.
• 350 million — End of 2009.
• 400 million — February 2010.
• 500 million — July 2010.
• 608 million — End of 2010.
• 750 million — July 2011.
• 800 million — September 2011.
• 845 million — End of 2011.
• 901 million — March 2012.
• 955 million — June 2012.
• 1.01 billion — September 2012.
• 1.44 billion – April 2015
FACEBOOK – HOW IT’S GROWN
13

14. • 500 million users – about 300 million are active
• 500 million tweets per day – up from 400 million in June
2012
• 40% of those on Twitter don’t tweet
• Time it took from 1st tweet to billionth tweet: 3 years,. 2
months, 1 day
• 25 to 54 year old – driving force
(older than you think)
TWITTER

15. • 28% of Retweets include “Please RT!”
• 60% of Twitter users access it from mobile
• About 20 million fake accounts
TWITTER - @MORE
15

16. • 300 million users
• Number of new members every second = 2
• 100 million users in the US
• In 200 countries/territories
• Average time spent on LinkedIn = 17 minutes
• Only social networking site that 50-64 year olds use more than 18-29
year olds (24% v. 15%)
LINKEDIN
16

17. • Most used adjective on LinkedIn = Responsible
• 30 million recent grads or students on LinkedIn
• Turkey, Colombia and Indonesia = fastest growing
countries
• 3 million companies have LinkedIn Company Pages
• 43% of visits from mobile device
MORE ON LINKEDIN
17

18. • 1.7 billion Internet users worldwide
• Over $250 billion spent online
• $43.2 billion spent in Q2
• Top-performing online product categories: digital content
and subscriptions, consumer electronics, flowers,
greetings and gifts, computer hardware, and apparel and
accessories
INTERNET LANDSCAPE

19. • Of the 1.7 billion users worldwide…
 42% are from Asia
 24% are from Europe
 15% are from North America
 10% are from Latin American/Caribbean
 4% from Africa
 3% from Middle East
 1% from Australia
INTERNET USERS – A CLOSER
LOOK

20. ISSUES FACED BY BRAND OWNERS
Social Media
&
Domain Names

21. • Impersonation
• Trade-mark infringement
• Username Squatting
• Copyright Infringement
SOCIAL MEDIA: ISSUES BRAND
OWNERS FACE

22. How To Protect &
Enforce

23. • Sites have own enforcement policies that deal with TM, CR, etc.
• Usernames big target
 facebook.com/lexpert
 Twitter: @Starbucks
ENFORCEMENT

24. • “…pretending to be another person or entity in order to
deceive”
• May result in suspension of username
• Twitter users are allowed to create parody, commentary, or fan
accounts.
• distinguish the account with a qualifier such as "not," "fake," or
"fan."
• Bio should indicate parody
• Tweets can’t mislead or deceive
TWITTER: IMPERSONATION

25. • Click to edit Master text styles
1. Second level
• Third level
– Fourth level
CLICK TO EDIT MASTER TITLE
STYLE

26. • Using mark to confuse or mislead
 Clear cases of infringement = suspension
 Lack of intent to deceive = give chance to fix
 Brand owner may request transfer of username
TWITTER: TRADEMARK
VIOLATION

27. • Accounts that are inactive for more than 6 months may be
removed without further notice
• Brand owner can allege squatting
• Twitter may assign to brand owner
TWITTER: USERNAME
SQUATTING

28. COPYRIGHT
28

29. 1) Be Proactive: secure usernames on various social networking
websites
2) Review sites for unauthorized trade-mark use and copyrighted
content
3) Enforcement: review existing usernames
 Which are a problem; which do we address
SOCIAL PROTECTION

30. Eric.Macramalla@GowlingWLG.com
THE END.COM/GOWLINWLG