Who owns the Merck Facebook page? That's the subject of a new lawsuit filed by Germany's Merck KGaA, which alleges the U.S.-based Merck & Co. ($MRK) co-opted its address at www.facebook.com/merck. Merck KGaA is demanding that Facebook hand over information about the switch, Reuters reports.
According to the German company, it last year obtained exclusive use of that page from Facebook. But last month, Merck KGaA found the page was populated with content from the U.S. Merck. Facebook has "not been cooperative" as Merck KGaA attempted to get information about the new content, the German company said.
Merck KGaA is seeking the information from Facebook as it weighs a potential lawsuit for breach of contact or interference with business, Reuters reports. Neither Merck would comment for the news service; the social-networking company remained mum as well.
- read the Reuters story