Twitter Rebrand To X At Stake? David Vs. Goliath Trademark Battle Moves Forward

The rebranding of social media platform Twitter to X could be at stake in an ongoing trademark battle, which comes after Elon Musk changed the name after he acquired the company for $44 billion in 2022.

Here's the latest.

What Happened: A small legal marketing company called X Social Media LLC filed a trademark dispute against the company now known as X Corp, formally Twitter, back in 2023.

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Earlier this week, a Florida federal judge John Antoon ruled that the lawsuit will move forward, declining to dismiss the lawsuit that centers on Twitter's name change, as reported by Bloomberg Law.

X Social Media connects law firms with clients using social media, which was the reason for its name that was trademarked earlier. The company was founded back in 2015.

In the lawsuit, it is stated that Twitter knew of the trademarks owned by X Social Media prior to launching its media campaign of the Twitter to X rebrand.

"The media coverage and attention generated by the launch has quickly caused reverse confusion and led consumers to believe that X Social Media's advertising services are being offered by or associated with X Corp," the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit uses a search on Google for X Social Media shows the result of X Corp.

X Social Media has suffered a loss of revenue since the rebranding of Twitter, according to the lawsuit.

"X Corp was well aware of its legal duty and chose to pursue its ‘X' mark agenda over avoiding consumer confusion and harm to X Social Media."

Antoon ruled that the lawsuit will move forward as the name change by the Elon Musk led company has confused customers when it comes to the older company.

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Why It's Important: Trademark attorney Josh Gerben, who is part of the team representing X Social Media, previously said the rebrand of Twitter to X could cost the social media company hundreds of millions of dollars in litigation fees with the likelihood of lawsuits.

Gerben shared news of the lawsuit moving forward on X.

"Our firm's litigation team scored a major victory today. A Federal Judge found that our client, X SOCIAL MEDIA, has a valid claim for a trademark infringement against X. The case will now continue further into the discovery phase," Gerben tweeted.   

X Social Media previously tried to resolve the issue with a cease-and-desist letter in August 2023 before filing its lawsuit against X Corp.

In the lawsuit, the plaintiff is seeking to be awarded three times the amount of damages since the name change or three times the defendant's profits over the same time, depending on which amount is greater, plus attorney fees.

The case is the first major public lawsuit over the trademark of X. Gerben previously said that both Meta Platforms and Microsoft Corporation own trademarks to the "X" logo and use of X.

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