Elon Musk’s X Faces Legal Hurdle With Trademark Lawsuit From Marketing Firm
The suit claims that Elon Musk’s company uses the X mark to promote services identical to that of X Social Media.
- X Social Media, an advertising agency, has sued Elon Musk’s X over concerns of copyright infringement.
- The suit claims that using the X trademark has led to confusion for users and reduced revenue for X Social Media.
Elon Musk’s X Corp. is facing a new legal challenge with a suit alleging trademark infringement. The plaintiff, an ad agency called X Social Media, has argued that the rebranding of Twitter to X has hurt their business, creating confusion among consumers with the company’s ad services being associated with identical services being run by X Corp.
X Social Media is seeking an order to prevent X Corp. from continuing to use X as its brand, in addition to monetary compensation. Such a challenge was long expected, considering around 900 trademarks with the letter X were already registered when Twitter made the change.
X Social Media has stated that the X brand has been a key aspect of its promotional materials and efforts over the past eight years, which has cost the company over $400 million to build brand awareness. As per the suit, X Social Media had sent out a cease-and-desist letter in August 2023, which was apparently ignored.
The court will have to scrutinize the similarity between both brands and the services both companies offer and find out if the consumers of X Social Media are actually getting confused with X. Corp. A date for this trial has not yet been set.
See More: EU Court Backs Amazon on Avoiding Requirements of Digital Services Act
Musk Faces Trouble With Defamation Suit
In another lawsuit, Elon Musk was sued by a California resident for defamation. The suit alleged that X promoted false posts, claiming that the plaintiff, Benjamin Brody was a federal agent working undercover in a neo-nazi group.
X users incorrectly identified a man involved in a recent altercation in Oregon through online footage. According to the lawsuit, Musk promoted these false claims, supporting a false flag narrative. Apparently, the actions on the X platform resulted in the doxxing of the plaintiff, resulting in harassment by strangers.
The lawsuit highlights X’s problems with managing disinformation. A study by the European Commission discussed the issue, and continuing problems such as these could once again bring the platform under the scrutiny of regulators.
Do you think Elon Musk and X are doing enough to meet regulator needs? Let us know your thoughts on LinkedIn, X, or Facebook. We’d love to hear from you!
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