Ex Populus, developer of the layer-3 network, filed a trademark lawsuit seeking to stop xAI from using the Xai name and similar branding in video game and blockchain contexts.
The creators of Xai, a gaming-focused blockchain on Ethereum, have taken Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence venture to court. The complaint asks a federal judge in Northern California to order xAI to avoid words or symbols that could cause confusion.
Musk said in November that xAI would launch an AI video game studio to “make games great again.” Ex Populus says that the announcement triggered “substantial actual confusion” online between its brand and Musk’s plan. The filing says news sites and commentators used the Xai logo in posts about xAI, and many users assumed the two efforts were related.
The complaint also says Grok, xAI’s chatbot , mixed up the parties. In replies on X, it reportedly claimed both the Xai blockchain and the xAI gaming push were controlled by Musk’s companies. However, when Cryptopolitan asked Grok about Xai, it made no such claims.
Still, Ex Populus argues the confusion has damaged its standing.
Company seeks ban on xAI use of Xai name and financial compensation
Filed Thursday, the suit asks the court to bar xAI from using any terms or marks likely to be mistaken for the Xai trademark in gaming and blockchain. Ex Populus also seeks punitive damages and to recover all profits that Musk’s companies earned from the alleged misuse.
The filing says the infringement has continued since last year and that the controversy around Musk has made the harm worse.
Xai calls itself a layer-3 network because it sits atop Arbitrum, an Ethereum layer-2 system. It keeps Arbitrum’s core setup but tunes it for games.
The network offers account abstraction to simplify wallets and accounts, raises gas and smart contract limits for developers, and says it adds parallel processing and other changes for better scale, speed, and lower costs. Those features build on Arbitrum’s optimistic rollups, which move transactions off the Ethereum mainnet to boost throughput and cut fees.
Ex Populus claims longstanding use of the Xai brand before xAI entered the market
Ex Populus says it owns the Xai brand and licenses its use. The team has used the name publicly since at least June 2023 and says the network is used by potentially millions worldwide. The company says confusion grew after xAI entered the spotlight and later signaled plans to get involved in games. After hearing from xAI’s legal team and seeing the effect on users and partners, Ex Populus says it felt compelled to act.
The firm says it could not ignore the overlap because trademark law requires owners to defend their marks or risk losing them. It casts the case as protecting the integrity of its work and the clarity of the brand that gaming communities rely on.
Ex Populus says people began assuming Xai was Musk’s company, and some posts talked about an “Elon’s Xai token.” Others used the blockchain’s logo in content that was actually about xAI.
A reddit post that mistakens Xai as Elon Musk’s xAI token. Source: Ex populus
Ex Populus says the case tests whether smaller builders can keep their identities when big firms enter with similar names. The company says it has invested years of effort and millions of dollars to grow a trusted mark and cannot allow it to be diluted.
It says it respects the courts and does not plan to comment further while the matter is active. The team says it will return to building new video games that use modern technology and will post updates on its site.
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