A strong online presence is a must for most businesses.  For many companies, X, formerly known as Twitter, is an important part of the overall marketing strategy.

That’s why it’s so important to understand how X policies and your marketing strategy may be influenced by whether or not you have a federally registered trademark.

By having a federally registered trademark, you actually can re-claim your X handle that is being held up by an X-squatter or infringer.

Let me explain.

X’s policies prohibit people from using your federally registered trademark as a handle if it is being used to confuse consumers.

Specifically, the trademark policy states that “Using a company or business name, logo, or other trademark-protected materials in a manner that may mislead or confuse others with regard to its brand or business affiliation may be considered a trademark policy violation”

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Let’s break that down.

Let’s say I have the trademark MAKARITAI for clothing, and I see that there is someone using the X Handle @MAKARITAI that is posting about clothes.  It’s pretty clear that this person is using this handle in a way that is going to confuse customers.

With a federally registered trademark, I could then file a Trademark Issue Report with X at https://help.X.com/forms/trademark.  You must have a federally registered trademark in order to file this report.

As a real-life example, an X user had the handle @chase, and retweeted unfavorable comments about JP Morgan Chase. The banking company filed a complaint, and X agreed that the user with the @chase handle was violating the X trademark policies.  This was possible because JP Morgan Chase had the federal trademark rights to @chase.

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So, as part of your marketing plan, keep in mind your goals for using X, and how a federally registered trademark might be needed in order to thwart off potential squatters or infringers.

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