Starting from 13 June 2009,  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 ; 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 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.