A July 24, 2023 article in The Messenger, Twitter’s Rebrand to X Could be a Trademark Nightmare Thanks to Microsoft, quotes OW&E’s Linda Joy Kattwinkel about the many issues facing Twitter in their move to “X”.
According to the article, “the biggest obstacle in the way of Twitter’s rebrand may be the fact that both Microsoft and Meta hold trademarks on the use of the letter X as a brand identity used for social media and communications purposes. Microsoft’s trademark application on the brand mark ‘X’ was filed all the way back in 2003 and last renewed on July 18, 2023.”
The article goes on to say, “Copyright lawyer Katttwinkel said the Microsoft trademark filing could prevent Twitter from claiming their services are different enough that they could also successfully trademark ‘X’ for the brand. Twitter’s parent company, X Corp., Kattwinkel said, would have to argue in court that the services their brand offers are actually different, despite both companies being to do with similar technology. ‘In my opinion, [Twitter] won’t win such an argument,’ she added.”