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When Elon Musk rebranded<\/a> Twitter to X this summer, there were<\/a> concerns<\/a> that the new company could face trademark lawsuits as there were nearly 900 active U.S. trademark registrations that cover the letter and branding \u201cX\u201d across various industries, according to comments made by trademark attorney Josh Gerben<\/a>, speaking to the press at the time. Now his firm<\/a> is representing what may be the first client to sue X over its trademark \u2014 a Florida-based social media ad agency, X Social Media<\/a>, that connects clients with opportunities to market themselves across social platforms like Facebook and Instagram.<\/p>\n The complaint<\/a>, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, was initially reported by Bloomberg Law.\u00a0<\/a>It states that X Social Media, LLC \u201chas continuously used the X Social Media Mark in commerce since at least early 2016,\u201d<\/em> and has significantly invested in marketplace awareness, which included developing a distinctive \u201cX\u201d mark that\u2019s associated with its social media advertising services.<\/p>\n For what it\u2019s worth, X Social Media\u2019s \u201cX\u201d looks nothing like Musk\u2019s \u201cX\u201d \u2014 in fact, it\u2019s an image that is actually a figure of a person where the \u201cX\u201d has distinctive arms and legs holding a pair of scales \u2014 a symbol the company uses to designate its specialty in serving clients in the legal industry.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Nevertheless, the complaint argues that Twitter\u2019s rebranding to \u201cX\u201d infringes on its own mark, and that its \u201crecent attempt to register the mark in association with social media, business data, promotion and advertising, business consulting, market research services, and advertising services\u2026necessitates this action\u201d<\/em> because it causes \u201cserious irreparable harm\u201d<\/em> to X Social Media.<\/p>\n In addition, the complaint alleges that the marketing and awareness that was built around Twitter\u2019s rebranding to X, as Musk\u2019s vision to transform the company into an \u201ceverything app,\u201d has caused consumer confusion because people may believe that X Social Media\u2019s advertising services are being offered by or are in association with X.<\/p>\n X Social Media also now ranking lower in search results for its own name, as Google points to X Corp.\u2019s Wikipedia entry as a top result.<\/p>\n The suit also makes the case that several of X Corp.\u2019s trademark applications are for services similar to X Social Media\u2019s offering, including business data analysis; promotional services; business consulting and information services; and business, consumer, and market research.<\/p>\n Ahead of its lawsuit, X Social Media sent a cease-and-desist letter to X Corp. in August, but the company declined to stop using the mark, it says.<\/p>\n X Social Media\u2019s suit wants the court to stop X Corp. from using the \u201cX\u201d in its advertising and marketing materials, publish corrective advertising to address consumer confusion, and is asking for damages.<\/p>\n Though X Social Media\u2019s case may mark one of the first companies to target Musk\u2019s X Corp. it may not be the last. Gerben had previously warned that the mark was used by hundreds of companies and had told Reuters<\/a> there was a \u201c100% chance\u201d Twitter would be sued by somebody over the X rebranding.<\/p>\n X is not the first major tech rebrand to result in a lawsuit, Bloomberg\u2019s report also noted<\/a>. Facebook\u2019s rebranding to Meta saw multiple suits, including from a VR company, blockchain group, and software company. Meanwhile, Block settled with tax preparation service H&R Block after rebranding from Square.<\/p>\n X Corp. didn\u2019t reply to requests for comment on the suite, sending only its auto-reply email \u201cBusy now, please check back later.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n