Starting from 13 June 2009, at 12:01 a.m. EDT

Facebook users are able to choose a personal username

which does not necessarily need to coincide

with the name and surname of the user, but its only

purpose is to personalise the WEB address of the

personal pages.

The username is associated with a personal

profile or a Facebook page, which may also be a

page for business, for a brand or other. The chosen

username appears on the location bar of

the browser and replaces the reference number

which, up until that date, was assigned randomly.

These personal pages are therefore comparable to

genuine Internet websites, and may be reached directly by entering

the address www.facebook.com/USERNAME. During the

first weekend of launching, around 5.75 million users registered

their own URL: it is therefore easy to imagine the impact of this

initiative.

Unfortunately, this procedure has also reignited the rush to

appropriate unlawfully famous names and trade marks, as it happens

on a daily basis for web domains (a phenomenon known as

‘domain grabbing’); therefore Facebook, with the aim of protecting

the holders of registered trade marks and also itself against

any claims which may be made against Facebook, has provided

them with the possibility of preventing the use of registered trade

marks as a username. Therefore it is – and was – strongly advisable

to register usernames corresponding to one’s own trade marks,

particularly those of major interest, in order to avoid inappropriate

exploitation by third parties.