The creators of Xai, a layer-3 gaming blockchain built on Ethereum, have sued Elon Musk’s xAI for trademark infringement—and are asking a federal court to force the billionaire’s artificial intelligence company to change its name and branding in contexts related to video games and blockchain.
In November, Musk announced plans to start an AI video game studio within xAI, to “make games great again.” Ex Populus, the company behind gaming blockchain Xai, now claims that Musk’s announcement immediately created “substantial actual confusion” online between their established video game brand, Xai, and Musk’s xAI gaming venture.
Numerous news aggregators and commentators used the blockchain’s logo in announcements about Musk’s venture, the company’s attorneys claim, and many more internet users mistook the separate ventures to be related. What’s more, Grok—Musk’s AI chatbot—also confused the two separate entities, and told X users they were both controlled by Musk’s companies, the attorneys said.
In a complaint filed Thursday, Ex Populus asked a federal court in northern California to order Musk’s AI company to cease using any words or symbols likely to cause confusion with Xai’s registered trademark, in the contexts of video gaming and blockchain.
It also requested punitive damages and all profits reaped by Musk’s companies for the alleged infringement.
Ex Populus’ attorneys repeatedly argued in their complaint that Musk’s company has not only consistently infringed on their copyright since last year—but, further, that the particular notoriety and controversy associated with the world’s richest man have made the alleged infringement particularly damaging to their brand.
“Musk and defendants’ xAI company routinely receive substantive negative media attention that is now being attributed to plaintiff’s XAI trademark,” the attorneys wrote.
The lawyers made particular note of a controversy that erupted last month when Musk’s AI bot, Grok, referred to itself as “MechaHitler” for a brief period and made antisemitic, racist, and sexually violent comments across the X platform.
“Plaintiff losing control over its goodwill is irreparable harm sufficient to support an injunction to cease defendants’ use of the infringing xAI marks,” Ex Populus’ attorneys said, “but to be associated with Nazism, hate speech, and violence exacerbates the harm exponentially.”
Ex Populus said in a statement that Musk’s attorneys reached out to them recently about trademark issues, and that, now, the company feels it has no option but to fight back “or risk losing [the trademark] altogether.”
“This case isn’t just about Ex Populus or Xai,” the company said. “It speaks to something bigger: the right of smaller innovators to build without having their identity swallowed by tech giants.”
Musk’s xAI did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s request for comment on this story.
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