Elon Musk's Decision To Change Twitter's Name As X Could Be Complicated, Other Companies Also Claim

X's new Twitter logo is problematic. (photo: twitter #elonmusk)

JAKARTA - Elon Musk's billionaire decision to turn the Twitter brand into X could be legally complicated because some companies, including Meta and Microsoft, already have the same letter-related intellectual property rights.

The use of the letter X is very common in trademarks so that it can become a legal problem - and companies previously known as Twitter can face their own problems in maintaining its X brand in the future.

"The 100% opportunity is that Twitter will be sued by someone," said trademark lawyer Josh Gerben, who counts nearly 900 active brand registrations in the US that already include the letters X in various industries.

Musk changed the name of Twitter's social media network to X on Monday 24 July and introduced a new logo for the social media platform, which is in the form of a black-and-white version in the style of letter X.

Trade brand owners - who protect things such as brand names, logos, and slogans that identify sources of goods - can demand violation if other brands cause consumer confusion. Problem solving ranges from material damage to bans on use.

Since 2003, Microsoft has a trademark X associated with communications about its Xbox video game system. Meta Platforms - whose platform Threads is Twitter's new competitor - has a federal trademark registered in 2019 that includes blue-and-white "X" letters for fields such as software and social media.

"Meta and Microsoft may not file a lawsuit unless they feel threatened that Twitter's X is disrupting the equity of the brand they built with the letter," Gerben said.

Meanwhile, the three companies did not respond to requests for comment.

Meta itself faces the challenge of intellectual property rights when changing its name from Facebook. They faced a trademark lawsuit filed last year by investment firm Metacapital and virtual reality company MetaX, and settled another lawsuit related to its new symbol-shaped logo.

And if Musk manages to change the name, other people can still claim 'X' for themselves.

"Given difficulty in protecting one letter, especially one of the commercially popular letters such as 'X', Twitter protection will likely be restricted to graphs very similar to their X logo," said Douglas Masters, a trade brand attorney at law firm Loeb & Loeb. "This logo does not have many characteristics, so the protection will be very limited."

Media Insider previously reported that Meta has a trademark X, and lawyer Ed Timberlake stated via Twitter that Microsoft also has a trademark with the letter.