Oops: Lawsuit Over Name Delays Today’s Full Facebook Timeline Launch

The drama over Facebook Timeline began before it even launched. Although you were supposed to start seeing the new blog-like changes to your Facebook profile today, Facebook Timeline has been delayed -- till at least tomorrow -- as the company was met with a trademark infringement last week.

Timelines.com is a small website based in Chicago that "allows people to collaboratively record, discover and share history." Its website says "It's history recorded by the people, for the people." According to Timelines, Facebook would "essentially eliminate Timelines and leave the public with the confusing impression that plaintiff Timelines is somehow affiliated with Facebook." Mashable reports that Facebook and Timelines will discuss in front of a federal judge if an injunction will be issued.

Here is Gizmodo's quick analysis of how tomorrow's events will take place:

Here's how it's going to play out: Facebook is a massive, massively rich company which can afford the best possible lawyers in the world. Timelines.com is the opposite of that. Even if their claims had some validity to them — which they don't — Facebook would prevail. That's just sort of how it works! But again, they don't have a single toe to stand on here. Facebook's Timeline profile and Timelines.com to completely different things.

Facebook Timeline was announced at Facebook's F8 conference a couple weeks ago. Instead of pushing older content on one's profile down to make room for more recent information, Timeline will "help you tell the story of your life.”

For now, Mashable reports that the judge did not grant Timelines' request that Facebook's developer app, which allows people to manually set up their own Timeline, be disabled. If you can't wait to get your Facebook Timeline rolling, here are Gizmodo's instructions.