St. Paul-based Hubbard Broadcasting has sued Facebook and its subsidiary Instagram, accusing the social media giants of trademark infringement and unfair competition that could lead to “irreparable harm” unless the court stops them.
The suit claims that Instagram’s new video file-sharing service, Reels, infringes on and dilutes the trademark of Hubbard’s long-established REELZ digital cable and satellite TV network, which reaches more than 50 million U.S. homes.
Hubbard’s complaint was filed in Minnesota’s U.S. District Court on Aug. 11. As of this writing, defendants had yet to file their reply.
Hubbard says Facebook’s Instagram service rolled out its similarly named media service in early August after filing a bad-faith trademark application. It did those things knowing that REELZ existed as a longstanding registered trademark and service, according to the complaint—and it did so with a splash.
“Much fanfare has accompanied the rollout, and the media space has been all abuzz about ‘Reels,’” Hubbard’s complaint says. “Defendants even accelerated their originally planned launch date by several weeks, bringing ‘Reels’ into the homes of a largely captive American audience during the pandemic.”
