Just days ago, Elon Musk went ahead with his plan to rebrand Twitter simply to the letter “X” and in for doing so, opened up the floodgates for a new wave of jokes and questions from the internet. Unsurprisingly, there’s just one problem: The man may not have actually and properly obtained the rights to use both the logo and branding. As in, he didn’t pay for the trademark.
According to several reports, Musk’s X branding is currently owned by Meta, the social network owned by Mark Zuckerberg. Specifically, Zuckerberg had already registered the logo, in line with his company’s “online social networking services” and “social networking services in the fields of entertainment, gaming, and application development.”
Meta isn’t the only brand that has a registered claim on the letter X. Microsoft also owns a trademark to the alphabet, which it registered for it to be used as a logo in its – you guessed it – line of Xbox products, all the way back in 2003. Of course, both versions of the trademarked X logos from Meta and Microsoft look different, making them look at as what lawyers describe as a “source identifiers”. As Business Insider aptly puts it: Twitter’s iconic blue bird logo fits that description, being a unique stencil image and is recognised globally when seen.
It also doesn’t help Twitter’s situation that the company has been reportedly playing hardball with advertisers. Based on a report by Engadget, the social network has begun asking them to pay a monthly US$1,000 (~RM4,519) on ads, should they wish to maintain their verified status on the platform.
While that amount may not put a dent in the coffers of larger brands that already have a presence on X, it most certainly would affect smaller businesses that do not have the same size warchest. On that note, if any of us were seeking some form of evidence of the social media platform feeling the pinch from the recent mass exodus of advertisers, this would be it.
On another note, Musk also made a unilateral decision to take over an @x Twitter account, without prior warning to its original owner, Gene X Hwang. Hwang is a photographer based in the city of San Francisco, said that the platform “Just took it essentially – kinda what I thought might happen.”
Created back in 2007, Hwang also said that, while he was willing to entertain a sale of his “X” themed username on Twitter, but instead received an email of the company’s actions. They did offer him some merchandise and a meeting with management, but not a buyout.
(Source: Telegraph, Business Insider, Engadget)
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