X Corp hit with lawsuit from PR firm over 'X' trademark

July 22 (Reuters) - Elon Musk's X social-media platform violates the trademark rights of PR firm Multiply, according to a lawsuit filed in California federal court that was made public on Monday.

The complaint said that X, formerly known as Twitter, causes consumer confusion by using the "X" trademark for social-media marketing services that compete with Multiply.

Spokespeople for X did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.

A Multiply spokesperson said in a statement that Musk "shamelessly stole the established identity of our social media and PR agency" and that the company "had no choice but to defend our mark and fight Twitter (X) in court."

Musk rebranded Twitter as X after buying the platform last year. Hundreds of other companies own "X" trademarks, and Musk's X is already facing a separate infringement lawsuit from marketing firm X Social Media.

Virginia-based Multiply has created social-media ad campaigns for drink brands including Arizona, Corona and Liquid Death. The firm said it adopted "X" branding in 2019 and owns a federal trademark covering its "X" logo.

According to the complaint, the Twitter rebrand has already confused some of Multiply's existing and prospective clients, many of which overlap with X Corp's. Multiply asked the court to force X Corp to stop using the "X" trademark and to award an unspecified amount of monetary damages.

The case is DB Communications LLC d/b/a Multiply v. X Corp, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, No. 3:24-cv-04402.