US banks caution on economy as Fed rate hikes boost earnings
Results of large US banks released Friday underscored the boon from higher interest rates, as executives described the world's biggest economy...
2023-07-14 22:58
Australian casino group to pay US$290 mn over money laundering failings
Australia's Crown Resorts is set to pay a civil penalty of Aus$450 million (US$290 million) for lax money laundering controls that saw cash being carried into a casino in...
2023-05-31 14:27
Credit Suisse Prepares for More Job Cuts, Financial News Says
UBS Group AG is poised to start its next wave of job cuts at Credit Suisse, this time
2023-10-20 08:52
Safilo posts 6.6% fall in Q2 net sales as North America weighs
Italian eyewear group Safilo posted a 6.6% fall in second-quarter net sales at constant exchange rates, due to
2023-08-03 00:18
South Africa Inflation Quickens in September, Matching Forecasts
South Africa’s inflation rate rose to a three-month high in September, strengthening the case for the central bank
2023-10-18 17:21
Man Utd's Champions League return clouded by ownership uncertainty
Manchester United are back in the Champions League but a bright future under Erik ten Hag remains clouded by uncertainty over the...
2023-05-26 10:30
Charting the Course to Net Zero: InfoLink Releases Whitepaper on Solar, Wind, and Energy Storage by 2030
TAIPEI, Taiwan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 4, 2023--
2023-07-04 12:54
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 17:19
Pretty in pink: 'Barbie' marketing blitz hits fever pitch
Hollywood A-listers have been walking red carpets in hot pink, glitter is back, and companies from The Gap to Burger King are doing rose-colored collaborations: "Barbie" mania is everywhere as...
2023-07-18 09:26
Mediobanca to launch new $223 million buyback after record year
MILAN Italy's Mediobanca said on Thursday it would buy back its own shares for around 200 million euros
2023-07-27 18:57
Biden and G7 leaders prepare new Russia sanctions as Zelenskly expected to attend Japan summit
Ukraine's President Volodomyr Zelensky is planning to make a dramatic in-person appearance at this weekend's Group of Seven summit in Japan as he continues to appeal for military assistance amid Russia's invasion, according to an official familiar with the planning.
2023-05-19 12:27
Bodegas Put on Notice as Visa Fights Back on Card Surcharges
The world’s largest payment network is making changes to how it deals with merchants who want to charge
2023-07-29 23:22
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