Trademark Dispute: Brazilian Court Orders Meta to Change Name

A court in São Paulo has ordered Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, to cease using the name “Meta” in Brazil within 30 days.

The ruling follows a seven-month court battle over trademark rights between the social networking company and Meta Serviços em Informática, a digital transformation consultancy founded in Brazil in 1990.

The Brazilian firm had applied for its trademark in 1996, which was granted by the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) in 2008, over a decade before Mark Zuckerberg’s company changed its name from Facebook to Meta.

In the ruling, the judges emphasized that the Brazilian firm’s trademark registration has existed for over a quarter of a century and that foreign companies must comply with local regulations if they wish to operate in Brazil.

Also Read: Meta set to label AI-generated images from other companies

The plaintiff, Meta Servicos, headquartered in Barueri, asserted in the legal proceedings that since Meta’s rebranding in 2021, it has been wrongfully embroiled in over 100 legal disputes and has had its Instagram accounts deactivated under allegations of impersonation.

The appeals court in Sao Paulo, concurring with the plaintiff’s grievances, ruled that Meta would face a fine of 100,000 reais ($20,201) per day if it fails to comply with the directive.

Meta’s decision to rebrand, formerly known as Facebook, was driven by a strategic shift towards the development of the “metaverse,” a virtual realm envisioned as the next frontier of digital interaction.