Insider Discusses How Protectable the New X Logo is with Josh Gerben

Elon Musk recently announced that he would rebrand the Twitter platform to “X” and unveiled the new logo. The X logo, which resembles a Unicode character, may be difficult to protect with a trademark registration, especially since rival Meta, already owns a trademark for an “X” logo.

Business Insider spoke with trademark attorney Josh Gerben about some of the challenges the X logo might face to become federally registered with the USPTO.

“A logo needs to be unique and distinctive in some way in order to be registered as a trademark with the US Patent and Trademark Office,” said Josh Gerben.

“Trademarks also have increased value and protection the longer they are used, meaning the new X logo is vulnerable to legal challenges in a way that more established Twitter icons aren’t,” he continued.

“My first thought is how much value is probably tied into the Twitter brand, and the bird logo, that has been cast aside,” Gerben said. “Because it’s exceptionally rare that any brand becomes so pervasive in culture and quite frankly, around the world, as Twitter has become.”

Source: Sheth, Sonam and Sundar, Sindhu. https://www.businessinsider.com. “Meta already appears to hold the rights to ‘X.’ It could make Twitter’s rebrand complicated”. 24 July 2023.