CorpComms Magazine

German pharmaceutical company Merck KGaA has called on a New York City court to force social networking site Facebook to explain why its page was replaced by rival company Merck & Co.

The German company said that its Facebook page had been 'misappropriated', and added that Facebook had been uncooperative in resolving the issue.

According to a filing with a NY State Supreme Court, German Merck plans to 'initiate action based on the apparent takeover of its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/merck' by its similarly named US competitor Merck & Co.

Merck KGaA gained exclusive rights from Facebook to the use of the web page in March last year, but in October of this year, the company realised it no longer had administrative rights to the page that is now filled with content relating to Merck & Co.

The German company explained: 'Because Facebook is an important marketing device, the page is of great value, and its misappropriation is causing harm to Merck.'

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