Elon Musk Apparently Didn’t Bother To Make Basic Preparations Ahead Of His Chaotic, Comical Rebranding Of Twitter As ‘X’ Despite His Decades-Long Obsession With The Letter; UPROXX, July 25, 2023

Mike Redmond, UPROXX ; Elon Musk Apparently Didn’t Bother To Make Basic Preparations Ahead Of His Chaotic, Comical Rebranding Of Twitter As ‘X’ Despite His Decades-Long Obsession With The Letter

"To the surprise of no one, there was a whole lot of diligence left on the table.

Despite Musk having a decades-long obsession with the name X, to the point that it led to his ouster at PayPal, it appears that nobody at Twitter thought to check if anyone had already registered the X trademark. Turns out, Musk’s rival Mark Zuckerberg is already sitting on the name along with 900 other copyright registrations (including Microsoft). Whoops."

Overstock Sees a Future in Calling Itself Bed Bath & Beyond; The New York Times, June 28, 2023

 Jordyn Holman, The New York Times ; Overstock Sees a Future in Calling Itself Bed Bath & Beyond

"Overstock, which last week paid $21.5 million to acquire the bankrupt retailer’s intellectual property, said on Wednesday that it would start operating its website under the Bed Bath & Beyond name."

Dunkin’ Donuts wants to leave a doughnut-sized hole in its name; Washington Post, August 4, 2017

Andrew deGrandpre, Washington Post; Dunkin’ Donuts wants to leave a doughnut-sized hole in its name

"Today, Dunkin’ Donuts is locked in a nationwide popularity contest with Starbucks and independent coffeehouses, aggressively competing for the loyalty of an increasingly calorie-conscious customer base concerned with staying fit, not just caffeinated. Doughnuts — while delicious — connote neither.

To that end, the Massachusetts-based chain is deploying a new marketing strategy. Its first vestiges appeared this week in Pasadena, Calif., where a new Dunkin’ Donuts storefront emerged bearing a new name and slogan:

Dunkin’. Coffee and more.

Eighty-six the doughnuts! (Or, rather, “Donuts.”)

The branding experiment in Pasadena marks the start of a trial period during which the company will gauge customer response and evaluate whether to take the new name nationwide. The review is expected to stretch well into next year, the company said."

McDonald's Wants to Trademark a 'Simple' New Slogan; Fortune, 3/25/16

Phil Wahba, Fortune; McDonald's Wants to Trademark a 'Simple' New Slogan:

"The hamburger chain, whose U.S. sales are recovering after years of declines, has filed to register a trademark for the slogan “The Simpler the Better,” a phrase that would echo its recent efforts to streamline its menu to speed up service—long a problem for the company—and tame its bureaucracy.

McDonald’s submitted the application to the U.S. Trademark and Patent Office earlier this month.

The filing doesn’t mean the burger chain will actually use the slogan. A company spokesperson told BurgerBusiness.com, which first reported on this filing, “We routinely file intent-to-use trademark applications as part of our regular course of business. We can’t share details at this time as to how this trademark may or may not be used.” (McDonald’s has trademarked terms such as “McBrunch” without ever using them.)"