The reason I posted this link is because the announcement really irked me. I am not a fan of Facebook in any way, but it really bothers me that Microsoft is reusing the product name that Facebook announced a few days ago - Metaverse. It's as if Samsung launched a phone tomorrow called the Galaxy iPhone. What happened to trying to be unique and releasing your own products?
As someone who does a lot of work with Intellectual Property, I am amazed that this product name is not protected, and even if it's not (because of the broad applications of the concept), I am disappointed by a company like Microsoft for essentially "stealing" another company's product name and releasing it a few days later. It feel very unclassy and I lost a lot of respect from Microsoft from this announcement.
I'd like to hear everyone else's viewpoint on this. Is Microsoft breaking IP laws here, or is this just something unethical?
"Microsoft for essentially "stealing" another company's product name"
Yeah...no. You should know better. If Facebook has trademarked "metaverse", then there would be a problem because consumers could potentially have a problem distinguishing competing virtual realities. Since "metaverse" is from Neal Stephenson's 1992 science fiction novel "Snow Crash" in the first place, I doubt Facebook or Microsoft has a real "intellectual property" claim on the word in the first place.
My viewpoint is that Microsoft using "metaverse" is a lot like both Kroger and Safeway using "meat". And that you can have physical property, or intellectual property, but not both.
> What happened to trying to be unique and releasing your own products?
They do have their own products. FB doesn't have an Xbox Cloud, Teams, or Power Platform or Power Apps. Who cares what name it eventually falls under? Let their highly compensated legal teams fight it out.
As someone who does a lot of work with Intellectual Property, I am amazed that this product name is not protected, and even if it's not (because of the broad applications of the concept), I am disappointed by a company like Microsoft for essentially "stealing" another company's product name and releasing it a few days later. It feel very unclassy and I lost a lot of respect from Microsoft from this announcement.
I'd like to hear everyone else's viewpoint on this. Is Microsoft breaking IP laws here, or is this just something unethical?