I am one of the administrators of a Facebook page “Freecycle ##” (where ## are my department’s number).
The Freecycle Network seems* to have filed a DMCA notice with Facebook claiming violation of trademark rights. It is my understanding that this claim is baseless, the word “freecycle” is not itself a trademark (and indeed it seems “The Freecycle Network” may not even be a protectable trademark).
This is what I received from Facebook
They also provided an email address associated with TFN. I have emailed asking that TFN withdraw their claim, perhaps unsurprisingly they haven’t replied.
So, what am I to do, must I file a DMCA counter-notice? Is this difficult (for a British citizen living in France)?
*Facebook furnished the barest of information, even failing to inform me which content TFN claimed to be infringing their rights (I am supposing it is the word “freecycle”)
In case you haven’t already seen it, and on the off-chance that it might contain some relevant info, here’s the Freecycle Network’s trademark info page. Trademark - FreecycleFAQ
Trademark is not copyright. You did not get a DMCA notice. Words, phrases, or titles cannot be copyrighted but they can be trademarked. Freecycle is asserting their rights to a trademark. Apparently, it’s even a registered trademark (as evidenced by usage of the Ⓡ symbol), so good luck trying to defend against that.
Yes they apparently own the mark **freecycle.org **(and maybe The Freecycle Network). But I believe they do not own the trademark freecycle it being a word in common usage before TFN’s inception.