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September 06, 2011 at 12:30 PM
LinkedFA, a social networking site designed specifically for financial advisors, is fighting a trademark infringement opposition filed by LinkedIn over the use of the word “linked.”
According to an Aug. 29 blog post written by linkedFA CEO Jason Bishara, LinkedFA has been fighting LinkedIn over the use of the word since October 2010, when LinkedIn filed an opposition challenging linkedFA’s trademark application.
“They believe they own the word ‘linked’ and believe this is enough of a material event to warrant action to prevent ‘damages’ to their company,” wrote Bishara in his blog post, “Are Social Media Giants, Like LinkedIn, Sabotaging the Industry?”
Li
nkedIn responded to requests from AdvisorOne for comment with the following statement: “We believe strongly that their name poses a significant risk that consumers will mistakenly believe that their product is endorsed by or associated with LinkedIn, which it is not. Like any trademark owner, LinkedIn is taking the appropriate steps to protect our members and safeguard our brand.” Bishara also claimed that LinkedIn has unsuccessfully attempted to shut down LinkedFA’s access to their application programming interface (API), which allows the two sites’ software programs to communicate with each other.
