Elon Musk’s X gets trademark lawsuit from marketing agency

As per a report by Reuters on Monday, the newly rebranded X Corp was charged with a federal lawsuit in Florida by a legal marketing company accusing that the new name of the social media copies its trademark, which has the letter “X.” X Social Media, which charged the law suit against Musk’s X is based within Florida and specialises in mass-tort litigation advertising, claims that Elon Musk’s company’s name change from Twitter to X is likely to cause confusion and chaos among the consumers.

In 2015, X social media was established by Jacob and Roseanna Malherbe, and its purpose was to connect panhandle residents of Florida with attorneys following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The agency has used the name “X Social Media” ever since then and holds a federal trademark for it.

The filed lawsuit claims that the agency has spent more than $400 million in Facebook advertising to target potential clients. The rebranding of Twitter has allegedly confused customers, resulting in revenue loss for X Social Media.

The lawsuit further argues that X Corp’s trademark applications comprise services that resemble the offerings of X Social Media, like as business data analysis and market research. In spite of a cease-and-desist letter sent by X Social Media in August, the former didn’t hesitate to use the mark.

The lawsuit claims that “in a short time, X Corp has wielded its social media clout, marketing resources, and overall national notoriety to dominate consumer perception of its ‘X’ mark,” X Social Media is pleading to the court to force Musk’s company to stop using the “X” name and is seeking compensation for unmentioned damages.

This case is likely to be the foremost of several trademark battles with Musk’s company over the use of the letter “X,” a common thing in tech branding (currently, approximately 900 active trademark registrations are covered under the letter X). Big tech companies like Microsoft and Meta also have hundreds of federal trademarks with the letter “X,” while X Corp applied for its own US trademarks covering the letter just in September.

In another string of events, iPhone maker Apple has also suspended  providing customer support services on the Elon Musk’s social media platform, X Corp (earlier known as Twitter), and is now redirecting users to its official website for help and support.

In case of any help or support sought via X, the @AppleSupport account will now continue to respond with automated messages. These messages will direct the customers should seek support through alternative channels, like the official Apple website, for a  comprehensive and personalized answer to their problems.

At present, Elon Musk is one of the greatest innovators in the world. The rich and famous entrepreneur is heading on to make new benchmarks with his creativity and vision in space exploration, artificial intelligence, technology and several other fields.