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submitted 1 year ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

X Social Media is suing X, a social media company::Elon Musk’s X is being sued by a Florida company called X Social Media for alleged unfair competition and trademark violations that it says have resulted in lost revenue.

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[-] ArghZombies@lemmy.world 225 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I like the fact that the article had to refer to the non-Musk site as XSM instead of its full name of 'X Social Media' because it would just make the article too confusing to use the proper name.

That perfectly illustrates the point.

I suppose it also means that if XSM lose the case because X is too generic, anyone can then set up a rival social media company also called X.

They can probably use the same logo too as it's just Unicode.

[-] jonne@infosec.pub 96 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'm just amazed that it turns out there's actually 2 people who think this is a good name for a social media website.

[-] jbloggs777@discuss.tchncs.de 30 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

There is a good chance that there are A-W, Y and Z social media companies too. Some may be legit (eg. marketing on existing social media platforms), and others more for trademark squatting.

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[-] kartonrealista@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

So is apple. Just because it's generic doesn't mean it's not protected by trademark law. Trademarks are also first come first serve, exclusive to a given industry (so you could call your company Apple or X, but it better be not in a business where it's already trademarked). They're also use it or lose it, and you basically have to sue others using it if you want to keep it.

Obviously the logo isn't just the character X, it's a character X in particular font. If they used the same one they would be violating their trademark.

[-] realitista@lemm.ee 209 points 1 year ago

I really want X.org to get some massive compensation for Elon's theft of their logo.

[-] vidarh@lemmy.stad.social 96 points 1 year ago

Took this in London the other day.

It's too common a symbol for X.org to have much of a shot because they're not competitors. This "X Social Media" might have a stronger claim if they've actually used and defended a trademark specifically in the social space.

[-] SomethingBurger@jlai.lu 45 points 1 year ago

And give all the money to Wayland.

[-] HKayn@dormi.zone 16 points 1 year ago

Except their logo wasn't stolen.

X is using a standard Unicode symbol.

[-] lemann@lemmy.one 13 points 1 year ago

Is something like a unicode symbol even valid as a trademark?

[-] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago

Probably not protectable, no. It has to be in use in commerce and distinctive. That said, with enough money you can buy enough lawyers to warp reality, so who knows.

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[-] RootBeerGuy@discuss.tchncs.de 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Its probably still too different for that, but I am not against them trying of course.

[-] hh93@lemm.ee 16 points 1 year ago

Apple has successfully trademarked everything that remotely looks like an apple with a bite taken out - there's a good chance it'll work

[-] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago

I like how they make a deal with Apple Records in the 80s that allowed both companies to use similar logos so long as Apple Computers didn't sell music and Apple Records didn't sell computers.

Then when iTunes became Apple's #1 product in the 2000s Apple successfully defended itself in court claiming that digital downloads were just 1s and 0s, so Apple Computers never sold music.

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X.XXX

Whatever happened to all the buzz about the internet finally giving porn sites their own top-level domain.

[-] DeadNinja@lemmy.world 98 points 1 year ago

That lawsuit simply says : "acquire me, acquire me, O Holy Musk, acquire me..."

Which is good in my opinion.

Ol' Musky just went "I want Twitter to be named X" and hoped reality would shape to his thoughts.

And now, some random person who made a shitty shell company for a few hundred bucks gets to get a couple mil because baby Elong Muskrat didn't bother to do his homework.

[-] Salamendacious@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago

I'm glad I'm not the only one seeing this as someone praying for a check.

[-] db2@sopuli.xyz 72 points 1 year ago
[-] chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world 66 points 1 year ago

With Musk's fetish for all things "X", now may be the time to start squatting trademarks.

[-] autotldr@lemmings.world 49 points 1 year ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


It was bound to happen eventually: a company has filed a lawsuit in federal court against Elon Musk’s X Corp. over its renaming of Twitter (via Reuters).

The company in question is X Social Media LLC, an ad agency from Florida that alleges X Corp. is guilty of violating Florida common law because of “unfair competition and trademark and service mark infringement,” as well as the state’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.

X Social Media (hereafter referred to as XSM to make this article easier to write) writes in the complaint that it has used its registered trademark, “X SOCIALMEDIA,” continuously since 2016.

XSM claims it has “already suffered loss in revenue that correlates with X Corp.’s rebrand and use of the mark ‘X.’”

It’s unclear how strong X Social Media’s case will ultimately be.

Law professor Alexandra Roberts told The Verge earlier this year that the “crowded field” of “X” trademarks could make it hard for any individual X-branded service to enforce a claim against another — whether that’s Musk’s X or a company like X Social Media.


The original article contains 177 words, the summary contains 178 words. Saved -1%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[-] Diggix@lemmy.dbzer0.com 58 points 1 year ago

Bot dropping the ball big time.

[-] remotelove@lemmy.ca 64 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

You have to applaud the fact the bot did correctly report a negative savings and did not show us whatever the bot equivalent is of a seg fault.

[-] NateNate60@lemmy.ml 24 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Well at least it didn't save us -10^100% and just post the text equivalent of a ZIP bomb

[-] camr_on@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

New bot idea

[-] lemann@lemmy.one 22 points 1 year ago

@rikudou@lemmings.world -1% saved on the TLDR bot, first time i've seen that output lol

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[-] match@pawb.social 19 points 1 year ago

fwiw, the bot mangled some text around The Verge with some nbsp and that's what makes up the -1%, the text is otherwise identical

[-] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 1 year ago

Jesus, Bot. You're a damned failure.

[-] krimson@feddit.nl 36 points 1 year ago

Bot is awesome. It has saved me from many cookie popups and ads.

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[-] casmael@lemm.ee 38 points 1 year ago

Sorry who is suing who now?

[-] blackn1ght@feddit.uk 79 points 1 year ago

X is suing X. X is a social media company, and so is X. I hope that clears things up!

[-] Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 29 points 1 year ago

Well then, I really hope X wins.

[-] PurpleTentacle@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 year ago

Frankly, I want X to lose big time.

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[-] NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago

Never mix up X corp with X.org

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[-] ITypeWithMyDick@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

Got it! At first I thought it was X suing X, but no its X suing X!

Reminds me of the time my Ex met an Ex with their Ex. Told me never to worry about it for some X reason, but I dont remember now.

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[-] jaaval@sopuli.xyz 25 points 1 year ago

Technically they are not exactly on the same field which could allow using similar trademarks. But on the other hand in this case X's use of X could be reasonably argued to be very confusing for customers and therefore violating X's trademark.

[-] alienanimals@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago

Downvote Musk spam.

The billionaire doesn’t need your help ensuring him and his businesses stay in the headlines every day. Don’t be a useful idiot.

[-] rtxn@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago
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[-] ClassyHatter@sopuli.xyz 18 points 1 year ago
[-] Afiefh@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

If we are lucky, it'll end with Musk's bankruptcy.

[-] camr_on@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

We may genuinely never hear the end of it

[-] lustyargonian@lemm.ee 10 points 1 year ago

ex-X formerly Twitter.

[-] NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

The article says it is "an ad agency".

Makes me curious: why are they calling themselves "Social Media"?

[-] JakenVeina@lemm.ee 23 points 1 year ago

I'd wager their focus is advertising ON social media.

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this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2023
712 points (94.5% liked)

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