The rebranding of Twitter to X has been met with mixed reactions from users of the platform and analysts. The new name for the Elon Musk-owned company and its X logo could also face challenges in the future due to several trademarks held by other companies.
In a look at what lies ahead, a trademark lawyer provides his perspective on the possible future trajectory of X.
What Happened: Since his acquisition of Twitter in 2022 for a whopping $44 billion, Elon Musk has implemented a series of significant transformations. The latest change involved rebranding the company to X, aligning it more closely with Musk's vision of an everything app.
Benzinga reported recently that the X design of the new platform could infringe on trademarks held by Twitter rival Meta Platforms META. Meta received a trademark from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for an “X” logo in June 2019.
Trademark attorney Josh Gerben of Gerben Law shared his thoughts on potential trademark challenges for Twitter, now known as X, going forward.
“The Twitter rebrand to ‘X’ is the trademark story of the year,” Gerben said.
Gerben added that it takes years to register trademarks in the U.S. and around the world.
“The Twitter trademark is known (and protected) around the world. To cast aside an asset this valuable in favor of a new trademark is unprecedented in history.”
Gerben also thinks there could be trademark challenges against Musk’s rebrand.
“The chance that Elon Musk will be able to successfully register a trademark for ‘X’ for all the services he intends to provide, in every country he wants to provide them in, is very low.”
Gerben said the rebranding could prove costly for Musk.
“There is about a 100% probability that Twitter/X will be sued by both opportunistic and legitimate plaintiffs over the new name. I estimate the company could easily spend tens of millions (if not $100+ million) in legal fees and settlement costs attempting to acquire trademark registrations for ‘X’ and in dealing with the litigation.”
Gerben added that sticking with Twitter would have allowed Musk to do anything he wanted with the brand without having to spend money on trademarks and lawsuits.
“It will be fascinating to watch how the fight for the ‘X’ trademark unfolds in the US and around the world over the next year or two.”
Related Link: From Twitter To X, Musk Reveals Reasoning Behind The Bold Rebranding Move
Why It’s Important: Meta Platforms and Microsoft Corporation MSFT are among the companies that have intellectual property rights over the letter X, according to Reuters.
The Microsoft trademark for X is related to its ownership of the Xbox video game platform.
Meta Platforms owns X trademarks for software and social media. Given the rivalry between Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, there could be an elevated chance that lawsuits emerge.
Benzinga also reported that before the name change from Twitter to X, the social media platform company had not obtained the rights to the @X handle, which belonged to a user. According to a report by The Telegraph, the user was not compensated for the name and saw the social media company take it from him. The report said the account’s owner Gene X Hwang was offered merchandise from the company and a meeting.
Hwang, who now has the X handle @x12345678998765 tweeted “alls well that ends well” Tuesday.
The newly named X could also face challenges if it goes public in the future, something Musk hinted at when he acquired Twitter previously. The X stock symbol belongs to United States Steel Corporation and Twitter users were quick to point out that the symbols XX, XXX and XXXX were likely owned or being scooped up given Twitter’s rebrand.
Meta Platforms has gone through similar troubles, as the company didn’t have the rights to the META stock symbol before rebranding the company from Facebook to Meta. The company also faced several legal challenges over the Meta name and its infinity logo. Meta’s new social media platform Threads, which competes with Twitter, also didn’t own Threads.com.
Musk and Zuckerberg have verbally agreed to a cage match over comments made about Meta copying Twitter. It's conceivable that the two executives might decide to resolve their trademark dispute through this unconventional method, a scenario that, while unusual, is not entirely unprecedented.
A Twitter user shared that in 1992 Southwest Airlines was using the motto “Just Plane Smart.” A smaller airline was using “Plane Smart.” The CEOs of the respective companies decided to arm-wrestle for the rights to the motto. Southwest CEO Herb Kelleher lost the “Malice in Dallas.” Southwest was able to keep its slogan after paying a $5,000 charity donation following the publicized event.
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