Facebook's Planned WANT Button Meets Legal Challenge

According to Francine Ward, Attorney, reports:

On October 12th a Michigan based company called CVG-SAB LLC filed suit against Facebook, Inc. for alleged trademark infringement. The company bringing suit is better known by its DBA name, WANT. In short, it connects people with products they like, desire, or already have.

[...]Facebook has not commented on the suit, nor has a trial date been set.

Mmmm. That might just explain why Facebook so suddenly withdrew its new its Pinterest-like feature in the testing phase, before they were rolled out to the general public.

I Want It: Facebook Plans To Steal Pinterest Thunder

Facebook is testing a new new feature called Collections where users mark images and create wishlists of products. Partners thus far include Pottery Barn, Neiman Marcus, Fab.com and Victoria's Secret. The collection look like photo albums.

Currently being tested are "want" and "collect" buttons.

It sounds a lot like Pinterest, if Pinterest had chosen a path more clearly within the law. Facebook's system appears to be opted in by retailers, rather than opted out; Facebook limits users to photos of products selected by retailers. Beyond that, there is surprisingly little to say. The very fact that the default state is OPT IN renders the whole operation kosher, as far as infringement is concerned.