X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has been hit with another challenge. This time it’s a lawsuit from Florida-based ad firm X Social Media.
The ad firm was founded in 2015 and offers its advertising and social media services to connect law practices with consumers affected by torts. X Social Media uses a “distinctive and dominant letter “X” to signify the
beginning of a life-changing journey towards justice”.
In its court filing, X Social Media made clear that the business was not a simple mom-and-pop shop. It claimed it was the 159th fastest-growing private company in the US in 2020 and had achieved almost 2,500 per cent three-year revenue growth.
It also said that its “X Social Media” trademark had been “used exclusively and continuously for over five years” and had become incontestable as a result. Musk began the process of rebranding Twitter to X in March this year with international filings. It was recognised as a legal entity in April.
X Social Media said that it had suffered a loss in revenue and that it was “highly probable” that continuing confusion would add to its financial detriment.
“X Corp.’s adoption of the ‘X mark exemplifies exceptional willful conduct, as it had a legal duty to conduct due diligence and avoid infringing the existing rights of X Social Media. X Corp. was well aware of its legal duty and chose to pursue its ‘X’ mark agenda over avoiding consumer confusion and harm to X Social Media,” said the company in its legal filing.
At present, it’s unclear how successful X Social Media’s lawsuit will be. There are a host of other companies using “X” trademarks in the digital realm — including Facebook parent Meta. B&T would have been in touch with X about the story, but Musk sacked all of its comms team.
