Facebook Inc. CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg is throwing the “book” at an upstart online teacher community.

Palo Alto, Calif.-based Facebook filed suit in federal court in San Jose, Calif., this month alleging that Northbrook, Ill.-based Teachbook.com is “misappropriating” the “book” portion of Facebook's trademark.

Further, Facebook said Teachbook.com is a “blatant” attempt to become “Facebook for Teachers,” thus riding the “coattails” of the networking community's fame.

Teachbook provides several of the same services as Facebook and, according to the lawsuit, actually is designed to be a teacher's substitute for Facebook, as some schools do not allow teachers to maintain a Facebook or MySpace account to protect personal information from students.

The trademark infringement lawsuit, which seeks a jury trial, states the term “book” cannot be used to name social-networking sites and argues that there could be confusion over which is the real Facebook.

However, Teachbook vowed to fight the infringement suit.

“It's a David and Goliath situation,” Greg Shrader, managing partner of Teachbook, told Wired magazine. “They're throwing bombs at a mosquito. They believe we're going to roll over and in some respect they get to own the term "book.'”

“It's not that they are using "book,” Facebook said in a statement to the Chicago Tribune. “We have no complaint against Kelley Blue Book or others” that already have a well-known online network with “book” as part of the name.