Trademark Battles Over “X”?

I admit it. I have no idea how this will turn out.  Honestly, I have no idea what has motivated Elon Musk to change Twitter’s name to “X”.  Oh, like everyone, I can speculate.  I can either take the position that it is the culmination of a big ego trip. Or I can surmise it is part of fulfilling a grand design encompassing all of his business ventures past, present, and future.  Frankly, I really don’t care all that much why he did it.  (Well, maybe I’m a little curious.)  But I AM most definitely curious how this turns out for the Twitter platform. And being in the field of intellectual property, I am more than a little curious whether either brand will even survive. As I understand things, over 900 companies have filed trademark registrations involving the letter “X” – and that is just in the U.S.  Even more interesting is that amongst these other filers are tech giants such as Meta and Microsoft.

Musk vs. Zuckerberg

Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg already have quite the ongoing feud, and people have been poised for future battles between them: physically (as in a proposed martial arts Octagon cage match) or via their competing social media platforms (specifically “Threads” vs. “Twitter”…er…”X”.)  The former would be an interesting, yet unlikely watch, but the latter appears to be heating up.  This latest twist only ads to the intrigue.

So – I have no crystal ball.  However, it feels to me like Elon will have an uphill battle getting traction with a rebranding of Twitter to X, including, I project, a substantial number of trademark challenges.  Someday we will likely read all about this in a Harvard Business Review case. But until then, what do you think?  I’m particularly interested in input from you Trademark attorneys.  Leave your comments on our page on Facebook…er…Meta?  Or on Twitter, oh – X.