UK Company Asks Meta To Stop Using The Name Threads. Here's Why

A small software company in the UK has sent a letter to Meta to stop using the name Threads because it owns the trademark. Threads Software Limited said it has given Meta 30 days to stop using the name, saying it the company doesn't comply, it will seek an injunction from the court. In the October 30 letter, the UK company says it is the owner of the trademark since 2012, which was formed in 2018 to commercialise the Threads service.

The British company trademarked Threads for its intelligent message hub that stores a company's emails, tweets, and phone call information in a cloud database, and was created with artificial intelligence (AI) in mind.

"Our Threads Intelligent Message Hub currently has an enormous technological lead on any similar service currently available. The exponential growth in AI has met all our predictions and more," the company said in a statement posted on its website.

"Threads was designed with AI in mind and one of the reasons we call it an intelligent message hub. For us to change the service name simply to avoid confusion with Meta's product could well set back the service enough for us to lose that technological lead," the statement further said.

The UK company's managing director Dr John Yardley told Gizmodo they waited four months to reach out to Meta to obtain enough legal advice.

Mr Yardley said taking on the tech giant "is not an easy decision".

"We recognise that this is a classic 'David and Goliath' battle with Meta," Mr Yardley said in a letter sent to Meta. "And whilst they may think they can use whatever name they want, that does not give them the right to use the Threads brand name."

Threads was launched by Meta in June this year and gained 100 million users within five days. However, a month later, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said more than half of Threads users stopped using the platform.