Does Microsoft own the letter 'X' trademark?
We didn’t think it was possible, but Elon Musk’s tenure at Twitter took an even stranger turn this week after he rebranded the social media platform to “X” out of the blue. It turns out Musk has been obsessed with naming things after the letter all his career, but it still came as a big surprise that he decided to change the name of an internationally recognised brand overnight to something that sounds more like a porn site or gentleman’s club. The logo is a pretty generic graphic, which replaced the famous blue Twitter bird after Musk crowdsourced ideas from users last weekend. It’s left people with more questions than answers at this point – one of them surrounds the issue of Microsoft and potential disputes over the letter “X” as a trademark. “X” is pretty common in names of companies and organisations and the likes of Meta and Microsoft reportedly have intellectual property rights around the letter “X”. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter In fact, as Reuters reports, the likelihood is that Twitter – now "X" – could well face legal action over the name change. "There's a 100 per cent chance that Twitter is going to get sued over this by somebody," said trademark attorney Josh Gerben. According to Gerben, there are close to 900 active U.S. trademark registrations surrounding the letter “X”. Microsoft does indeed have an X trademark which it’s held since 2003. However, it’s related to communications about its Xbox video game system. Meta Platforms also owns a trademark for an “X”, which is related to software and social media. According to Gerben, the two companies are unlikely to sue over the Twitter name change unless they believe the move encroaches on their brand equity. Douglas Masters, who is a trademark attorney at law firm Loeb & Loeb, said [via Reuters]: "Given the difficulty in protecting a single letter, especially one as popular commercially as 'X', Twitter's protection is likely to be confined to very similar graphics to their X logo. "The logo does not have much distinctive about it, so the protection will be very narrow." Social media user Keith Edwards posted on the topic by uploading a screen grab of Microsoft’s 2003 patent for “X”, writing: “Microsoft owns the trademark for X. This is just too good.” A community note was added to the post which read: Microsoft only holds this trademark for videogame-related services; this wouldn't affect Twitter. “However, Meta holds the ‘X’ trademark for ‘online social networking services... social networking services in the fields of entertainment, gaming and application development…’” Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-07-25 17:24
Taiwan's TSMC to invest $2.9 billion in new plant as demand for AI chips soars
TSMC, the world's largest chipmaker, says it plans to invest nearly 90 billion New Taiwan dollars ($2.9 billion) to build an advanced chip plant in Taiwan, as it expands production to meet booming demand for artificial intelligence (AI) products.
2023-07-25 16:59
TikTok takes on Elon Musk’s X with text-only posts
TikTok has launched a new text-based feature to rival other social media platforms like Meta’s Threads and Elon Musk’s X app. The Chinese-owned app unveiled the new feature on the same day that Mr Musk rebranded Twitter to X, which the tech billionaire plans to transform into an “everything app” like China’s WeChat. TikTok claimed in a blog post published on Monday that the latest format would “empower” its users. “Text is the latest addition to options for content creation, allowing creators to share their stories, poems, recipes, and other written content on TikTok – giving creators another way to express themselves and making it even easier to create,” the blog post stated. “With text posts, we’re expanding the boundaries of content creation for everyone on TikTok, giving the written creativity we’ve seen in comments, captions, and videos a dedicated space to shine.” TikTok gained huge popularity through short-form video content – briefly overtaking Google to become the most popular destination on the internet in 2021 – and has since expanded to support images in an effort to take on Instagram. Earlier this month, TikTok also launched a music streaming service that offers an alternative to giants like Spotify and Apple Music, however it is currently only available in Brazil and Indonesia. TikTok said in a press release at the time that it “plans for further growth in other markets”. The new text feature looks more similar to Instagram Stories in appearance, offering colourful backgrounds and the ability to add stickers to a post. Unlike Threads or X, TikTok’s text posts will also support sounds that play in the background, similar to its video- and image-sharing features. “Sounds are core to the TikTok experience, which is why we’ve incorporated them into text posts,” the company explained in a note to users. “You’ll be able to add tunes that readers can groove to as they peruse your writing.” Posts have a 1,000-character limit – shorter than the 10,000 limit offered to paying X users but more than the 500-character limit on Threads. Read More What is Elon Musk’s ‘everything app’ X? Schoolboy almost dies from swallowing magnets for TikTok challenge Woman shares honest review of New York City apartment TikTok mom slammed after making 5-year-old son run in 104 degree heat
2023-07-25 16:20
Binance to Start Full Services on New Japan Platform in August
Binance will roll out full services on its new platform for Japan in August, the crypto exchange’s founder
2023-07-25 15:20
Dassault Systemes Earnings Rise 8% on ‘Positive Shift’ in Market
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2023-07-25 15:18
Keyboard maker Logitech raises forecast for first half of 2024
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2023-07-25 14:26
Bitcoin Retreat Puts Crypto’s 2023 Lead Over Stocks in Jeopardy
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2023-07-25 14:25
Spotify premium subscribers in UK to now pay £1 extra per month
Spotify has increased the subscription prices of its premium plan in many parts of the world, with an individual plan going up by £1 in the UK. The price rise comes following Spotify chief Daniel Ek suggesting during an April earnings call that there could be an increase in subscription fee soon. The changes also come as other streaming platforms, including Netflix and Apple Music raised their subscription prices recently. “The market landscape has continued to evolve since we launched. So that we can keep innovating, we are changing our Premium prices across a number of markets around the world,” the audio steaming giant noted in a blog post on Monday. “These updates will help us continue to deliver value to fans and artists on our platform,” it said. In the US, the company said the premium plan for individuals would now cost $10.99 (£8.55) a month up from the charge of $9.99 (£7.77) it has levied since the platform’s launch in 2011. Along with the price rise for a single individual premium subscription plan, the cost of Duo is increasing from $12.99 (£10.11) to $14.99 (£11.6), and for the Family plan from $15.99 (£12.44) to $16.99 (£13.22), and the one for students from $4.99 (£3.88) to $5.99 (£4.66). “We will raise it and that price increase will go down well because we’re delivering a lot of value for our customers,” Mr Ek said, noting that the changes would happen “when the timing is right.” Spotify said users would be given a “one-month grace period” before the new prices take effect. Other countries where the new price regime will take effect include Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Spain, Finland and France, among several others. “Starting from today, existing subscribers in these markets will receive an email explaining what this means for their account,” the company said. “We occasionally update our prices as we continue to innovate and invest in giving you better listening experiences and more value than ever before.” Read More Sony has officially unveiled the new WF-1000XM5 wireless earbuds – here’s everything you need to know WWF capitalizes on death of Twitter bird logo to highlight real species facing extinction Watch the moment Twitter blue bird sign is taken down from San Francisco HQ
2023-07-25 14:17
Musk Explains Why He’s Dumping Twitter Name and Iconic Bird Logo
Elon Musk on Monday explained his decision to strip Twitter of its famous blue-bird logo as a move
2023-07-25 11:46
Driven by AI boom, TSMC to invest $2.9 billion in advanced chip plant in Taiwan
By Sarah Wu and Yimou Lee TAIPEI (Reuters) -Driven by a surge in demand for artificial intelligence, Taiwanese chip maker
2023-07-25 11:27
AI Is Rewriting the Rules of $200 Billion Games Industry
Executives and politicians across the world worry about the havoc that next-generation artificial intelligence will wreak on industries
2023-07-25 09:47
UK Pledges Crackdown on Harmful Ads on Google, Other Web Platforms
The UK said it will force social media platforms and services like Alphabet Inc.’s Google Ads to stop
2023-07-25 07:49