Betty's Best sues Meta Platforms, alleging on information and belief that Facebook ads used its StripHair photographs, videos, and marks

The complaint

The complaint is Document 1, entered November 12, 2026, in Betty's Best, Inc. v. Meta Platforms, Inc., No. 5:26-cv-13646 (N.D. Cal.). It runs 51 pages and demands a jury trial. The caption describes the action as a complaint for copyright infringement, trademark infringement and counterfeiting, false designation of origin, design patent infringement, and unfair competition. Betty's Best, Inc. is a California corporation with its principal place of business in Santa Ynez, California. It describes itself as the maker of the StripHair Gentle Groomer, a grooming tool for horses and pets sold under the marks STRIPHAIR and THE GENTLE GROOMER, and sold through authorized retailers, its website, and an online marketplace. (Compl. paras. 32-35.) The complaint describes Meta Platforms, Inc., formerly known as Facebook, Inc., as a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in Menlo Park, California, and it refers to the defendant as Facebook. (Compl. paras. 39-40.) The complaint states that its allegations are made on personal knowledge as to Betty's Best's own acts and on information and belief as to all other matters.

The registered works

The complaint identifies four groups of product photographs registered as visual materials: StripHair Product Pictures 2020 (group of 10 photographs), Registration No. VA 2-299-367, dated May 12, 2022; StripHair Product Pictures 2019 (group of 7 photographs), VA 2-300-902, dated May 19, 2022; StripHair Product Pictures 2018 (group of 2 photographs), VA 2-304-928, dated June 3, 2022; and StripHair Product Pictures 2021 (group of 8 photographs), VA 2-304-931, dated June 3, 2022. (Compl. para. 103.) It identifies eight registered videos, each described as an entire motion picture: SH-Video-1 11.01.2019, PAu 4-142-655, dated June 14, 2022; SH-Video-2 4.01.2021, PAu 4-142-666, dated June 14, 2022; SH-Video-3 7.01.2021, PAu 4-143-928, dated June 30, 2022; SH-Video-4 4.01.2018, PAu 4-143-929, dated June 30, 2022; SH-Video-5 3.01.2019, PAu 4-145-045, dated July 14, 2022; SH-Video-7 6.01.2020, PAu 4-145-360, dated July 19, 2022; SH-Video-8 5.01.2021, PAu 4-145-361, dated July 19, 2022; and SH-Video-6 2.01.2019, PAu 4-145-379, dated July 19, 2022. (Compl. para. 104.) It identifies website content titled “striphair.com website,” Registration No. VA 2-271-013, effective October 6, 2021. (Compl. para. 105.) Collectively, the complaint calls these photographs, videos, and website content the Registered Works, and it attaches the certificates of registration as Exhibits 2 through 4. The Copyright Office public records for all thirteen registration numbers show the same titles and registration dates and list Betty's Best Inc. as author and claimant. The four photograph registrations are group registrations of published photographs, the eight video registrations are unpublished registrations with authorship of the entire motion picture, and the website registration covers photographs and text.

The marks and the design patent

The complaint lists two Principal Register marks that it says are incontestable: STRIPHAIR, U.S. Registration No. 5,072,866, for grooming tools for pets, namely combs and brushes, and currycombs, in International Class 21, first use October 1, 2014, first use in commerce December 16, 2014, registered November 1, 2016; and THE GENTLE GROOMER, U.S. Registration No. 5,328,641, in the same class, first use and first use in commerce in 2015, registered November 7, 2017. (Compl. paras. 97-98.) The USPTO record for Reg. No. 5,072,866 lists STRIPHAIR as a live, renewed standard-character registration on the Principal Register, owned by Betty's Best, Inc., a California corporation, for grooming tools for pets, namely, combs and brushes; currycombs, in Class 21. The complaint also asserts U.S. Patent No. D841,900 S, titled Horse or Pet Grooming Tool, which issued on February 26, 2019, and which it calls the HOPGT Design Patent. (Compl. para. 110.)

What the complaint alleges

On information and belief, the complaint alleges that beginning in 2021, third parties it calls Counterfeiters used Betty's Best's copyrighted photographs and videos, imitations of the Betty's Best Marks, and images of the patented design in ads that Facebook published to its users, directing them to Facebook pages and linked online storefronts that sold knockoff grooming tools, in packaging that, the complaint alleges, copied an image of the brand persona “Betty” standing next to a horse. It says a schedule to the complaint identifies hundreds of advertisers and thousands of such ads. (Compl. paras. 37, 109, 111 to 113.) It alleges, on information and belief, that Facebook stored images of the Registered Works on its systems, communicated those images to users through advertisements and shared posts, used technology to approve or deny ads, and displayed, reproduced, and generated revenue from the works without authority, and that Facebook's violations of the Copyright Act were intentional and willful. (Compl. paras. 165 to 168.)

The complaint alleges that on or around October 10, 2021, Facebook blocked Betty's Best's own ads on all three of its ad accounts while continuing to run ads that used its videos, that Betty's Best appealed repeatedly and submitted trademark and copyright reports, and that it was not until January 2024 that it was able to reinstate one of the three accounts. (Compl. para. 38.) It says Betty's Best was a member of the putative class in an earlier copyright suit against Meta in the same court, No. 4:22-cv-02485 (N.D. Cal.), filed April 22, 2022, and it alleges that the filing of that suit tolled the limitations periods for its claims until the court denied class certification on August 17, 2026. (Compl. paras. 162 to 163.)

Counts and relief

The complaint pleads nine causes of action: direct copyright infringement (First); contributory copyright infringement (Second); vicarious liability for copyright infringement (Third); trademark infringement and counterfeiting under 15 U.S.C. §§ 1114, 1116, and 1117 (Fourth); contributory and vicarious trademark infringement under 15 U.S.C. § 1114 (Fifth); false designation of origin under 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a) (Sixth); design patent infringement under 35 U.S.C. §§ 271, 283, 284, 285, and 289 (Seventh); common law unfair competition (Eighth); and violation of California's Unfair Competition Law (Ninth). The prayer seeks an injunction, including an order requiring Facebook to remove or block repeat infringers that Betty's Best reported or that Facebook otherwise knows to be repeat infringers; actual, consequential, and enhanced damages; statutory damages under 17 U.S.C. § 504(c) of up to $150,000 per Registered Work infringed, for each time it was infringed, to the extent the court finds the infringement willful, or alternatively actual damages and profits; damages, profits, statutory damages, and restitution under the Lanham Act, the Patent Act, and California law, as applicable; costs, reasonable attorneys' fees, and interest; and other relief. (Prayer paras. a to f.)