(This article is part of Today’s Cache, The Hindu’s newsletter on emerging themes at the intersection of technology, innovation and policy. To get it in your inbox, subscribe here.)
Twitter’s new name has legal baggage
The social media platform known as Twitter will be renamed X, announced owner Elon Musk this week. However, the letter is so widely used and trademarked that a lawsuit against Twitter is inevitable, according to legal experts. Hundreds of companies have active U.S. trademark registrations for the letter, including Twitter rival Meta and software giant Microsoft. A lawsuit could be initiated if any of the brands feel that Twitter’s rebranding to X could lead to confusion for its own company or services. Twitter (X), Microsoft, and Meta are yet to make public their legal actions, if any.