The rollout of Facebook's new profile design, the Timeline, has been delayed. While the reason for the delay has not been confirmed, it is suspected it is connected to the legal battle between Facebook and a small company called Timelines.com.
The Chicago-based company reportedly filed for a temporary restraining order against Facebook to prevent the social network from rolling out Timeline to the public, claiming the new feature threatens the future of its business.
Timelines.com is a history-oriented service that enables people to collaboratively record and share history. “It's history recorded by the people, for the people,” says the site.
Sources have reportedly said that despite the judge's refusal to grant the restraining order, Facebook nevertheless said it would delay a full launch.
The new profile, which essentially creates a digital scrapbook of Facebook users' lives, was originally expected to go live on 30 September. Timeline is currently in developer preview phase only.
Representatives from Facebook and Timelines.com are expected to meet again today to debate whether an injunction should be issued against Facebook.
Consumer confusion
The claim from Timelines.com says Facebook's branding of the new profile will confuse the established trademark of the history site, and result in less traffic and users due to the confusion.
Timelines.com has also claimed the functionality of the Timeline mirrors its own to an extent. The company also asserts Facebook is aware of the similarities between the brands and is redirecting traffic from the Timelines.com Facebook page to the social network's new Timeline feature.
Social media lawyer Paul Jacobson says: “This complaint is a combination of a trademark infringement complaint and a sort of unlawful competition complaint, which seems to be premised more on Facebook's sheer size and its ability to manipulate traffic across its site from Timelines.com's page to its own Timeline publicity pages.
“Assuming that Timelines.com's allegations about the similarities of the its service and the new Facebook Timeline are accurate, launching the Facebook Timeline with the same name could well put Timelines.com out of business through sheer numbers.”
According to Jacobson, Facebook's sheer size puts the social network in in a unique position to shape much of the social Web, “even if that includes shuttering smaller, niche competitors along the way”.
“Timelines.com's complaint could be its last attempt to stave off its own extinction and a real spanner in the works for Facebook, particularly if it has merit,” says Jacobson.
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