Twitter’s Rebrand to ‘X’ is a Trademark Nightmare

Elon Musk is rebranding Twitter to ‘X’. The problem? Meta and Microsoft already have ‘X’ trademarked. Where will the brand, and its users, go from here?

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Elon Musk’s announcement of Twitter’s rebrand to ‘X’ has triggered a discussion surrounding its trademark registrability — including the big name opponents that have already trademarked ‘X’.

Meta already holds rights to ‘X’, having registered an ‘X’ logo in connection to “online social networking services” and “social networking services in the fields of entertainment, gaming, and application development”. Certainly, with Meta being Twitter’s leading social media competitor, this doesn’t sound like it’ll bode well for Musks’s re-branding efforts.

Speaking of media behemoths, Microsoft also already owns a trademark registration for ‘X’ as well, for providing online chat rooms concerning video and computer games, and providing online electronic bulletin boards for messages. This registration was mainly used in association with xbox.

But why care? And what’s the significance of a trademark anyway ?

The Green Coffee Mermaid

The nature of a trademark is to denote commercial source to consumers, and reduce confusion. For example, when you see someone sipping out of a white coffee cup with a green mermaid emblazoned on it, you safely assume that the person is drinking Starbucks. The Starbucks logo has acquired distinctiveness in the wild, so that consumers instantly recognize it. BUT, that’s not without the protections that trademark rights afford Starbucks.

You see, without trademark rights, anyone could slap a green mermaid on their coffee cup and call it a day. But then, no brand would be able to acquire distinctiveness, because no brand has rights to its own uniqueness. And that ultimately hurts businesses who are then unable to cater properly to consumers (because we all know that consumption is about more than JUST the product or service, it’s about the brand too).

That’s why trademarks are so important. And that is why companies like Meta and Microsoft will staunchly protect their trademark against potential infringement or confusion in the marketplace.

Okay. Back to the X.

Another threat to Twitter’s ‘X’ makeover is the fact that it is identical to the Unicode character known as the “Mathematical Double-Struck Capital X”, which was added to the unicode in 2001. Unicode owns the licensing for the exact symbol that Musk plans to use for the new X logo. Musk will need the permission and license of the Unicode font owner in order to legally proceed with using it, but it remains to be seen whether this licensing has been or will ever be obtained.

So, the very fact that Twitter’s rebrand to ‘X’ lacks originality, promotes confusion, l acks distinctiveness in relation to the goods and services it wishes to provide, AND is using an existing font from the unicode that it likely doesn’t have the license for…..spells disaster. But it isn’t the first scandal in Musk’s tenure as the custodian of Twitter *ehem*, I mean X.

While Musk claims to be a proponent of free speech, and is disdainful of censorship, many users have reported Musk’s takeover of the platform as the start of Twitter’s free speech downfall. To give an example, the term “cisgender”, meaning someone whose gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth, was recently banned from the app by Musk and deemed to be a slur.

Additionally, Musk’s takeover has precipitated app features that limit usability. Accounts that do not pay for the company’s “Twitter Blue Service” (which is almost all the accounts) are only able to view a total of 1000 posts a day, while accounts that do pay are privy to 10,000.

There has also been significant backlash on Musk on behalf of users who maintain that social media platforms should remain free, and that a subscription based pay model is a ridiculous ask for the average Twitter/X user.

What do you think?

So, what do you think? Is this trademark-palooza the final nail in X’s coffin? Or is this a rebirth of some sort? And if it is a rebirth, do you think X’s most useful and notable features have already died along with the image of the beloved blue bird?

1. Do you still use Twitter/X? Will you continue using it?

2. Is this the end for Twitter? Will an alternative, like Instagram’s Threads replace it?

3. Should social media be free?

4. Are trademarks actually useful?

Written by: Shany Raitsin, B.A.(Hons.), J.D Candidate 2024 — Lincoln Alexander School of Law