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Protecting Your Trademark on Facebook

Client Alert | 1 min read | 06.11.09

Facebook®, the popular social networking system, has announced that starting at 12:01 a.m. (EDT) on Saturday, June 13, 2009, its users will be allowed to create personalized URLs. (see http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=90316352130). This raises the possibility that some Facebook users may try to incorporate third party trademarks as part of their new URLs.

In anticipation of this possibility, Facebook has established an online form to be used by trademark owners interested in protecting their trademarks from being registered as usernames. (Click here: Facebook - Preventing the Registration of a Username). The online form is simple and, barring technical complications, should be easy to use. It is unknown as to how effective this system will turn out to be but there may be be little downside to the process. Unfortunately, Facebook has given minimal advance notice of this new development and trademark owners who wish to take full advantage of this system should consider submitting the online form prior to the commencement of the new URL registration program on Saturday June 13.

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Client Alert | 2 min read | 06.15.26

Kansas Federal Court Applies “Selective Enforcement” Theory to Reject DTSA Claim

A Kansas federal court held that inconsistent enforcement of trade secret rights can defeat a claim under the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA). In Edelman Financial Engines, LLC v. Mariner Wealth Advisors LLC, No. 2:23-cv-02515-HLT (D. Kan. June 5, 2026), the court applied a selective enforcement theory, holding that when a company does not consistently pursue legal remedies against similarly situated former employees, that inconsistency can be affirmative evidence that it failed to protect its trade secrets. While the selective enforcement theory has appeared in academic hypothetical discussions, the decision appears to be one of the clearest judicial applications of a “selective enforcement” theory in a trade secret case....

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