Twitter X Rebranding Sparks Legal Concerns, Speculations

Josh Gerben, a trademark attorney with Gerben Intellectual Property, has speculated that the company formerly known as Twitter could spend up to $100 million on litigation due to the rebranding to Twitter X.

Gerben predicted in a July 25 X thread that lawsuits related to trademark infringement could be filed against X “within the next few weeks” in the United States, with legal issues in the international arena likely to be a “huge issue” for years.

Several U.S. companies, including Microsoft and Meta, already own similar “X” trademarks for various products and services, and many others may have legal grounds to sue X.

Gerben remarked that it was unprecedented to abandon a valuable asset such as the bluebird in favor of a new trademark.

“Had Elon stuck with the Twitter brand, his company likely would not have spent a dime to justify its Twitter trademark on nearly everything he desired to do with it.”

Former Twitter CEO Elon Musk announced that the company’s iconic blue bird logo would be substituted with a black-and-white “X” logo on July 23. Musk established X Corp. as Twitter’s parent entity in March.

At the time of publication, the search bar, blue “tweet” button, and retweet counter all retained their previous designations.

Many users on the platform have criticized the rebranding for being ill-conceived. Musk himself could not provide a definitive answer regarding the new moniker of the July 24 retweet.

He has also hinted that users can expect to conduct their “entire financial world” on the X platform, as there are plans to offer services that influence “half of the global financial system.”

This is the most recent controversy involving one of the world’s largest social media platforms.

Musk acquired Twitter through a $44 billion deal in October 2022, dismissing members of the company’s executive team and phasing out the platform’s legacy verification system—bblue checkmarks—iin favor of various paid options.

In April, when Musk temporarily changed the Twitter logo to that of the Dogecoin Shiba Inu, many on the platform speculated that the change was transient.

For the rebranding to X, the logo on the company’s San Francisco headquarters may shortly change from a bird to a letter.

During April and May of 2022, Twitter’s advertising revenue in the United States was approximately 59% higher than during the same period in 2022.

In May, former NBCUniversal executive Linda Yaccarino assumed the CEO role, while Musk posts frequently on the social media site.