Ex Populus, the Delaware corporation behind Ethereum’s blockchain-powered gaming network Xai, has filed a federal trademark infringement lawsuit against Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI.
The lawsuit centers on marketplace confusion between Ex Populus’s XAI trademark, registered federally since June 2023, and Musk’s xAI company, announced in July 2023.
Gaming Network Claims Prior Rights as Musk’s AI Venture Enters Market
Ex Populus operates one of the highest transaction volume blockchain gaming networks globally, offering AI-driven gaming solutions and autonomous software systems across multiple platforms.
Musk’s November 2024 announcement that xAI would “start an AI game studio to make games great again” directly entered Ex Populus’s established gaming territory.
The post reached over 36 million viewers, which further amplified consumer confusion between the two brands operating in overlapping markets.
The complaint details widespread marketplace confusion, including xAI’s own AI assistant Grok mistakenly informing users that “XAI_GAMES refers to xAI’s gaming initiatives.”
Ex Populus took legal action today to protect the Xai brand. With increased confusion around Elon Musk’s AI company (@xai), it’s a big responsibility to safeguard the brand that the community trusts. You can read more details at https://t.co/ce8Aw9hNCZ
— XAI
(@XAI_GAMES) August 22, 2025
News algorithms and social media posts have consistently conflated the two companies, causing Ex Populus to lose control over its brand reputation.
Ex Populus faces additional reputational damage from association with Musk’s polarizing public image.
The company cited incidents where xAI’s Grok chatbot was pulled offline after promoting violence and making racist comments, creating negative brand associations for their gaming ecosystem.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has already suspended several of Musk’s trademark applications for “xAI” and “XAI GROK” due to the likelihood of confusion with Ex Populus’s prior rights.
Defendants attempted to acquire senior trademark status by purchasing an abandoned “X.AI” registration, but Ex Populus argues that the previous owner, Bizzabo Ltd., had already abandoned the mark in October 2021.
Musk’s xAI Plans Apple Lawsuit While Fighting Trademark Claims
Regarding this Ex Populus lawsuit, Musk’s legal team attempted to pressure the company into relinquishing trademark rights through threatened cancellation proceedings.
On August 7, 2025, xAI’s counsel warned they would petition to cancel Ex Populus’s federal registration unless the gaming company consented to worldwide xAI trademark registrations.
The latest updated lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction preventing xAI from using the disputed marks, cancellation of Defendant’s existing trademark registration, and invalidation of five pending applications.
Ex Populus demands monetary relief, including disgorgement of profits, actual damages, treble monetary relief under federal law, and punitive damages under state law.
Beyond the Ex Populus lawsuit, xAI has recently voiced plans to sue Apple over alleged antitrust violations, claiming the tech giant unfairly favors OpenAI’s ChatGPT in App Store rankings while suppressing xAI’s Grok chatbot.
While this lawsuit came at a peak market rally, the case joins a broader pattern of intellectual property disputes that have seen many crypto and blockchain companies clashing over brand rights.
XAI Token Down 96% amid Rising Intellectual Property Conflicts
Recent months have witnessed several high-profile cases involving NFT platforms and meme coin creators defending their brand rights against perceived infringers.
In July, Yuga Labs, creator of Bored Ape Yacht Club, recently saw a $9 million trademark victory overturned mainly by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The court ruled that critical questions about consumer confusion in the company’s case against artist Ryder Ripps required jury determination rather than summary judgment.
Similarly, earlier this year, Solana-based platform Pump.fun faced similar intellectual property challenges when law firms Burwick Law and Wolf Popper issued cease and desist letters over unauthorized token creation.
The firms filed class-action lawsuits alleging Pump.fun facilitated the creation of over 200 tokens infringing their trademarks.
Notably, the latest lawsuit comes at a challenging time for Ex Populus’s XAI token, which has declined 96.7% from its all-time high of $1.60 reached on March 11, 2024.
The gaming network’s token has struggled alongside earlier broader crypto market weakness and notably reduced interest in blockchain gaming platforms.
A successful legal outcome could potentially thrust the XAI token back into the market spotlight, particularly if the case generates significant media attention around the trademark dispute.
The community is already speculating whether Musk might consider acquiring the gaming company outright to resolve the conflict, which would be a positive trigger for the token.
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