Facebook Shelling Out Ridiculous Money For New Meta Name

Mark Zuckerburg recently announced that the new name for the company that owns Facebook going forward will be Meta. A computer company in Arizona is now claiming they owned the name first.

According to Trademark search information pulled by TMZ, Meta PC filed for a trademark on the word “Meta” back in August. The company currently uses the name to sell computers and hardware as well as related items.

Meta founders Joe Darger and Zack Schutt say the Meta PC brand has existed for over a year. The documents to trademark the name were just filed recently, however. The petition to trademark “Meta” has not yet been granted by the government.

As the much larger Facebook now intends to use the name, the founders of Meta PC see a conflict of intellectual property. If the Zuckerburg-led tech giant wants to use the name, Darger and Schutt say they’ll have to pay up. The duo says the name will cost Facebook $20 million.

The owners of Meta PC say a complete rebrand of their company will be costly. They think that $20 million is a small price to pay for the trademark rights to such a high-value brand name.

Since the Facebook announcement by Zuckerberg, Meta PC has gained ground due to their association with the name. The company has had their social media following increase by 5,000%. A source close to Facebook says the company believes they have the rights to legally use the name when offering “goods and services.”

Who should own the rights to the ‘Meta’ name? Let us know in the comments!