Mark Zuckerberg may have some competition when it comes to acquiring the newly announced “Meta” name for Facebook.
According to TMZ, two men operating a PC company filed for the trademark on Aug. 23, and they aren’t giving up the name easily. The company—Meta PC—which lives in the world of computers, laptops, tablets, software, is run by Joe Darger and Zack Shutt. The two have been operating under the name for over a year now.
Of course, both men are still awaiting their trademark, but Darger and Shutt are ahead of Facebook in the process – though they said they’ll drop the trademark entirely if Facebook pays them $20 million to settle the dilemma.
Letting go of the potential trademark would mean the duo would have to rebrand Meta PC, which has earned a 5,000% increase in followers after Zuckerberg’s latest surprise announcement.
This comes days after Zuckerberg shared a video to social media announcing the name change for the company—which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp—is set to be “metaverse-first, not Facebook-first.”
“Our mission remains the same—it’s still about bringing people together,” he said. “But now we have a new North Star, to help bring the metaverse to life, and we have a new name that reflects the full breadth of what we do and the future that we want to help build.”
The metaverse may not have accounted for a name mix-up, but TMZ shares a close source said Facebook feels it has the rights needed to take on the trademark.
