[At-Large] X marks the spot - a small spot

[Mike Arbrouet]

Sounds like someone is not a fan of Mr Musk. The way I see it: his money
(of which he has plenty), his companies, and consequently his decisions.
And given his successful track record, I wouldn't bet against him.

On Wed, Jul 26, 2023, 7:03 PM Evan Leibovitch via At-Large <
at-large at atlarge-lists.icann.org> wrote:

> So apparently a certain purveyor of rockets, tunnels and electric cars is
> infatuated with the letter "X" to the point of destroying decades and
> billions of dollars in accumulated brand value in renaming Twitter. Most
> involved in tech are I'm sure aware of this already.
>
> Why am I posting this to ICANN mailing lists?
>
> To call attention to the stupidity of confusing domains with brands,
> something in which many domain sellers -- mainly speculative domain
> re-sellers -- gleefully engage.
>
> Apparently Mr. Musk seems to believe that acquiring "X.com" from Facebook
> -- along with some cosmetic redesigns -- constitutes a rebranding. Let this
> episode be a warning to others who would use a domain as a primary branding
> tactic, forgetting that:
>
>    - A great number of tech companies have trademarked uses of the letter
>    X
>    <https://edition.cnn.com/2023/07/25/tech/meta-microsoft-trademarks-new-twitter-name/index.html>
>    for web services, most notable among them the aforementioned Facebook. So
>    this is not an issue of Musk being able to bully smaller companies;
>
>    - Then there's Microsoft, which has some such trademarks of its own
>    and produces an obscure, little-known computing device known as an "XBox";
>
>    - Most people using Unix and Linux for their desktops have been using
>    software known as "X" for decades (though it is being phased out ... very
>    slowly).
>
>    - Also consider that doing searches for "X" on the Internet is ikely
>    to find paths to very family-UNfriendly parts of the web. Consider the
>    American "X" rating given to films before 1990.
>
> Let this be a cautionary tale, unfolding before us in real time. A domain
> name is at best a minor part of branding strategy that must consider many
> other factors. Paying a substantial sum for that second-hand domain will
> not be the answer to your problems, and may indeed introduce new problems.
> And especially beware of domain resellers passing themselves off as
> branding experts.
>
> Evan Leibovitch, Toronto Canada
> @evanleibovitch / @el56
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