WASHINGTON — People continue to chirp tonight about the impending end of Twitter.
Elon Musk is changing the app’s name and logo to X. But some users claim the rebrand may not last long because a pair of tech giants beat it to the punch.
QUESTION
Do Microsoft and Meta own trademarks for the letter X?
SOURCES
Dfinity Foundation v. Meta Platforms, Inc.
ANSWER
Yes, both Microsoft and Meta hold trademarks for the letter X.
WHAT WE FOUND
Microsoft and Twitter’s biggest rival both have trademarks for the letter X, but they are far from alone.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted trademarks to dozens of companies to use X as part of a logo or as the name of a product or service.
Some of the approved trademark applications are for selling life insurance; some are for clothing; and another is for a protectant used by car washes.
Brauneis, a law professor at George Washington University who specializes in intellectual property, trademark, and copyright law, said trademarks are limited to the company’s specific product or service.
“So, if I decided to call my soup X, that would not prevent a book publisher from deciding to call their book publishing company X," he explained, "because consumers don’t think that a soup company has just gone into the book publishing business.”
If Twitter can prove to the satisfaction of the USPTO that no other company uses X the way it plans to, Brauneis said it is likely to win approval.
Another factor Brauneis believes works in Twitter's favor is that the marks held by Microsoft and Meta, while considered live by the USPTO, may be found to be abandoned if the issue were brought before a judge.
The applications from Microsoft and Meta both relate to a video game streaming platform called Mixer. It was a partnership between the two companies that was meant to rival Twitch and YouTube. Microsoft's trademark came first, and listed the service as a chatroom for multiplayer video games played over computer networks. The application says it was filed in 2000 and the mark was first used commercially in 2002.
Brauneis said Microsoft later transferred the trademark to Facebook, which used much broader language in describing the commercial applications of its use of X, including social networking. Part of Meta's trademark application shows a stylized X in the middle of the name Mixer as a logo.
Brauneis added, though, that if Meta were to sue Elon Musk for using X in a social networking setting, the judge might dismiss Meta's claim because the mark could be considered abandoned.
According to the Trademark Act of 1946, if a company does not use its trademark commercially for three years, that qualifies as prima facie evidence that the mark is abandoned.
The companies announced in June 2020 that it would shutter Mixer in July 2020 and transition its users to a different streaming platform. Twitter began changing its branding to X on July 23, 2023.
Meta, itself, is familiar with the challenges that can be made when a well-known company changes its branding. Mark Zuckerberg created Meta to be the company that owns Facebook, Instagram, and its other products. It was sued by other companies that believed it infringed on their trademarks, including one lawsuit filed by a Swiss non-profit that argued Meta's logo was too similar to its logo. The companies agreed to resolve the suit out of court in February 2023.