The service name of Twitter has been changed to “X”. In response, YOSHIKI of the rock band X JAPAN tweeted, “I think X JAPAN trademark is registered”. Indeed, if you replace the “Twitter” part of Twitter JAPAN with “X”, it becomes “X JAPAN”.
Under the Japanese Trademark Law, “a trademark consisting solely of an extremely simple and common mark” cannot be registered (Article 3.1 of the Trademark Law), and the Examination Guidelines provide an example of an “extremely simple and common mark” as “a mark consisting of one or two Roman characters. In other words, “X” alone, without a logo, has no distinguishing power and will not be registered as a trademark.
The above-mentioned “X JAPAN” has been registered as a trademark in standard characters (Japanese Registration No. 4750523). In the U.S., Microsoft and Meta have also registered “X” as a trademark, although not in standard characters. There are many other registrations for the letter X as well.
It will be interesting to see the future of the branding of Twitter and “X”. (Marron)
Reference URL:
Twitter” is now “X” and “Twitter Japan” is now “X Japan” ……? YOSHIKI: “I think it’s trademarked…”
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/e32abb6c2170e977c0e6e91e5ac751ba7dd7e1ee
Meta and Microsoft have already trademarked X in the US
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/byline/kuriharakiyoshi/20230725-00359274