Merck Facebook

Merck and Merck look to settle Facebook naming dispute

pharmafile | November 29, 2011 | News story | Medical Communications Facebook, Merck, Merck KGaA 

Merck & Co and Merck KGaA looked to have made inroads into their Facebook naming quarrel.

Earlier this month Merck KGaA, which is based in Germany, had taken Facebook to court over the use of the www.facebook.com/merck name. 

Facebook had given the URL to Merck & Co, a separate US company, even though it was already in use by Merck KGaA. 

But this week Facebook said that it ‘made a mistake’ in letting Merck & Co take over a page on the social networking website from Merck KGaA.

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Facebook plans to make the URL unavailable for use until both Mercks agree which company may use it. The companies may request other URLs and maintain presences on Facebook.

Facebook said in a statement: “The transfer of the vanity URL facebook.com/merck from Merck KGaA to Merck & Co was due to an administrative error.

“We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused,” the firm added.

Merck KGaA said the loss of the Facebook page deprived it of an ‘important marketing device’, and would continue to look into the matter, but was happy with Facebook’s apology.

According to legal documents the Mercks became separate companies under the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.

Each retained rights to the Merck trademark in different geographic areas, as part of Germany’s reparations following World War I.

Ben Adams is the reporter for Pharmafocus and InPharm.com. He can be contacted via: email or Twitter.

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