With its push into international markets heating up, Facebook appears to be setting its sights on a handful of popular ‘copycat’ social networks whose web sites bear an uncanny resemblance to its own.

StudiVZ, the German social network that the company filed suit against on Friday (Click here for a copy of the complaint), claims to have 10m users scattered across Germany, Austria, and a handful of other countries in Europe. That’s a lot of people, the most active of which ostensibly aren’t using Facebook’s German-language site.

From the looks of it, StudiVZ should be an interesting test case for Facebook’s intellectual property claims. The site, it’s fair to say, looks almost exactly like Facebook - except that it’s red, not blue. It has groups, a section for photos, and even its own version of the Facebook “wall” where friends can leave each other messages. Many of the page layouts look identical to those on Facebook.

Ten million users is nothing to sneeze at (StudiVZ recent sold to a big German publisher for a suspected 100m euros). But a bigger challenge to Facebook could come from clones elsewhere, especially in China, where Xiaonei, another site that bears striking resemblance to Facebook, boasts more than 15m registred users and has raised $435m in venture funding.

Various tallies around the web have identified at least nine other major alleged Facebook clones. It’s not clear whether Facebook intends to pursue other alleged copycats. But with its lawsuit Friday, Facebook has put them on notice.

Update: StudiVZ responds

It took almost 48 hours (thanks in part to Facebook’s decision to file its suit late in the afternoon on a Friday, long after Germany closed down for the weekend) - but StudiVZ has finally issued a response to the Facebook suit. The money quote, from Marcus Riecke, chief executive:

“There are numerous social networks. Facebook was not the first and certainly isn’t the only one. By attempting to harm studiVZ through a meritless California lawsuit, Facebook is arrogantly laying claim to an international monopoly over social networking sites that the facts show it does not deserve.”

Full statement after the jump.

Statement by StudiVZ on Facebook’s intellectual property lawsuit: 

BERLIN — July 20, 2008 — Though we have not been served with the complaint, we understand that Facebook Inc. has filed a lawsuit against studiVZ in Federal Court in California on July 18, 2008.

Because we have not been served with the complaint, studiVZ cannot comment in detail about the content of the claims.  However, based on what Facebook has apparently told the media, the claims are without merit.

Claims made by lawyers acting on behalf of Facebook prior to Facebook’s filing of this lawsuit prompted studiVZ to file for a declaratory judgment at the District Court in Stuttgart, Germany, on Friday, July 18. The purpose of the filing is to have the responsible German court declare that the claims made by Facebook are without merit.

Marcus Riecke, CEO of studiVZ Ltd., comments on the developments as follows:

“Now that Facebook, despite trying hard, has not been successful in the German market, the company seeks to obstruct studiVZ through court action. Their strategy appears to be: If you can’t beat them, sue them.”

There are numerous social networks. Facebook was not the first and certainly isn’t the only one. By attempting to harm studiVZ through a meritless California lawsuit, Facebook is arrogantly laying claim to an international monopoly over social networking sites that the facts show it does not deserve.”

July 19th, 2008 in Copyright, Digital media, Internet | Permalink