Trend Hunter Founder Challenges His Own Trademark

I filed a trademark violation against myself and it worked. SWEET!

In the middle of launching our new Trend Hunter Facebook Fan Page, Facebook announced personalized usernames.  The kicker was that our new page did not have enough fans to secure its own name.  So, I personally squatted on the /trendhunter username to make sure nobody else registered it…

The problem with this approach is that Facebook does not let users switch their username.  So how could I get the Trend Hunter Fan Page to be /trendhunter?

This week I noticed that trademark owners could file trademark violation reports and secure back their trademarks… So I did.

Specifically, I filed a Trademark Violation against myself, and within a day, Facebook relinquished the username back to the trademark owner… Which, of course, is also me. 

Finally, Facebook.com/TrendHunter and Facebook.com/JeremyGutsche are different!