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In his ruling, U.S. District Judge John W. Darrah in Chicago said: “Facebook has failed to demonstrate, as a matter of law, that the marks are generic. At this stage in the proceedings, it is not unreasonable to conclude that as to this group of users, ‘timeline(s)’ has acquired a specific meaning associated with plaintiff.”
Timelines Inc. launched the suit against Facebook, shortly after the social site launched the Timeline feature back in September 2011, accusing Facebook of infringement and unfair competition
Facebook in turn countered the suit, saying Timeline’s registered marks were not protected.
With Timelines, users are able to create a chronology of historical events like sports events, war and science breakthroughs. Facebook’s Timeline feature on the other hand allows users to trace the major events in their social life, classifying them in chronology of events.
Facebook declined to comment on the ruling, but Timelines’ attorney, Douglas Albritton, told Bloomberg they are happy with the ruling, adding that Timelines Inc is seeking damages caused by Facebook’s usage of the Timeline feature.
The ruling comes just a few days after Facebook launched a new Timeline look for its users, where posts and life events are placed on the right, with everything else like photos and friends lists, placed on the left.
