On Wednesday, the XFL unveiled its new logo. On Thursday, it was asked to come up with something else.
Via A.J. Perez of FrontOficeSports.com, Togethxr sent a cease-and-desist letter to the XFL on Thursday. Togethxr, a media and commerce firm, was founded by soccer star Megan Rapinoe and her wife, Sue Bird.
“Togethxr and its co-founders have worked tremendously hard to build a platform that uplifts women in sports and culture,” Togethxr said, via Perez. “We were disheartened to see the announcement of the XFL’s new branding and logo, which has striking similarities to our own. . . . It’s our mission to weave representation and equality into all that we do, which is why we’ve issued a legal notice to the XFL highlighting our concerns. We will continue to protect the important work we’re doing.”
The issue arises from the shape of the X. Reasonable minds would differ as to whether the two X’s are sufficiently similar to create confusion. Some would say the two X’s don’t look very much like at all.
Matters of this nature can also become an effective mechanism for free publicity, whether a given company is the party responding to or issuing the cease-and-desist letter. For example, many who will become aware of this dispute likely had never heard of Togethxr.
From that perspective, Togethxr arguably already has secured a victory.