Musk Can't Use X As Hundreds Own The Trademark

Billionaire Elon Musk's decision to rebrand Twitter as X could be complicated legally: Companies including Meta and Microsoft already have intellectual property rights to the same letter, Blake Brittain reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: Musk renamed the social media network Twitter as X on Monday and unveiled a new logo for the social media platform, a stylized black-and-white version of the letter.

X is so widely used and cited in trademarks that it is a candidate for legal challenges - and the company formerly known as Twitter could face its own issues defending its X brand in the future.

"There's a 100% chance that Twitter is going to get sued over this by somebody," said trademark attorney Josh Gerben, who said he counted nearly 900 active US trademark registrations that already cover the letter X in a wide range of industries.

Musk renamed the social media network Twitter as X on Monday and unveiled a new logo for the social media platform, a stylized black-and-white version of the letter.

Owners of trademarks - which protect things like brand names, logos, and slogans that identify sources of goods - can claim infringement if other branding would cause consumer confusion. Remedies range from monetary damages to blocking use.

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