Facebook has lost an attempt to end a trademark infringement suit over its use of the name "Timeline." Bloomberg reports that US District Judge John W. Darrah denied Facebook's attempt to derail its case with Timelines, Inc., with the judge writing that the social network had failed to show that the disputed term was "generic or merely descriptive."

Facebook also made the case that its own use of the term "timeline" hadn't been as a trademark — though Trademarks, Inc. pointed out that Mark Zuckerberg himself had referred to the Timeline feature as the Facebook's "most important brand" in the past. Judge Darrah disagreed with Facebook's arguments, and as such the case is headed towards a scheduled April 22nd trial date — but with Timelines seeking Facebook's ad revenue from the Timeline feature as damages, there's plenty of incentive for the social media giant to settle in the coming weeks.