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Vietnamese Company Already Owns META Brand, Raises Concerns Over Facebook's Rebrand

Last week's rumors turned into reality—Facebook officially announced its parent company rebrand to Meta this week. CEO Mark Zuckerberg framed the move as opening a new chapter in the company's evolution.

Here's where it gets interesting: much like Google did when creating Alphabet, Facebook isn't renaming its products. The individual apps—Facebook itself, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp—keep their original names. Meta becomes the holding company that owns and operates everything.

Vietnamese Company Already Owns META Brand, Raises Concerns Over Facebook's Rebrand

But here's the catch: Vietnam already has a company called META. Specifically, META Online Network Joint Stock Company received its business registration certificate (number 0102196915) from Hanoi's Department of Planning and Investment way back on March 29, 2007. The company holds intellectual property rights to the META brand and operates domains like META.vn and META.com.vn within Vietnam.

META Online Network has been operating in Vietnam's e-commerce space since 2007, positioning itself as a trusted online shopping platform. The real concern is whether this creates a direct conflict with Facebook's new global branding strategy.

Beyond e-commerce, the Vietnamese META company runs several major websites in the country. This is a legitimate operation with nearly 15 years of market presence and brand recognition.

When asked about potential conflicts with Facebook's rebranding, META's communications representative Bùi Thị Bích Thủy responded:

"We were quite surprised to learn that Facebook is rebranding to Meta—a name that directly overlaps with our existing brand. This raises legitimate concerns about potential brand confusion and service mix-ups between our two companies.

At this point, we haven't confirmed whether Facebook plans to legally register and operate under the Meta brand in Vietnam. What we can say definitively is that META has operated successfully here for nearly 15 years, building solid credibility in e-commerce and digital media.

We have all necessary legal documentation: our business registration certificate, META trademark registration, social media operating licenses, and domain ownership in Vietnam. If Facebook intends to operate here under the Meta brand, we're prepared to take legal measures to protect our intellectual property.

We trust that a company of Facebook's scale will respect intellectual property and legal frameworks when entering Vietnamese markets, preventing unnecessary conflicts between our organizations."

Legal expert Giang Văn Quyết from the law firm Tôi Yêu Luật offered additional perspective. He notes that since the Vietnamese company registered its full business name—META Online Network Joint Stock Company—as of 2007, Vietnamese law provides automatic protection. Under Decree 103/2006, trademark names receive legal protection based on actual use without requiring separate registration.

More importantly, Article 41 of Vietnam's Enterprise Law prevents any new business from registering a name that's identical or confusingly similar to an existing registered company. This means Facebook cannot simply register "Meta" in Vietnam if it causes confusion with the already-established META brand. The existing company's rights are protected under current law.

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