Musk’s problem with X? Meta and hundreds of others own trademark rights to the new Twitter name

For Elon Musk, renaming Twitter to “X” can be legally complicated. According to a report by the Reuters news agency, numerous companies such as Meta – formerly Facebook – already have intellectual property rights to the letter “X”. The letter is so widely used and trademarked so often that Musk will likely face multiple legal challenges.

US trademark attorney Josh Gerben told Reuters there was a “100% chance” Twitter would be sued over the proposed name change. Gerben has already counted nearly 900 active US trademark registrations for the letter “X” in various industries.

Musk renamed Twitter to “X” on Monday and introduced a new logo for the social platform — a simple, stylized black and white version of the letter. Trademark owners may sue for infringement if another company’s brand name or logo is likely to confuse consumers. This would almost certainly be the case with the generic letter “X”, which several companies also have trademark rights to.

In the event of such an infringement, trademark owners can bring claims for damages or, in the case of serious infringements, even prohibit the use of the trademark. With another software giant, one thing stands out in particular: Meta or “Meta Platforms” is a Twitter competitor and has a trademark with the blue and white letter “X” for areas such as software and social media, which has been registered since 2019.

However, according to Gerben, it is unlikely that Meta will litigate. Unless the company sees the danger of Twitter – and then “X” – interfering with the brand value that Meta had previously built. If Musk succeeds with the name change, other players and companies may well claim the letter for themselves and use it for their purposes.

Musk explains the name change from Twitter to X with his far-reaching plans for the platform. In the coming months, among other things, it will be possible to conduct any financial transactions there, Musk wrote on Tuesday evening.

(t online)