A Virginia-based startup, Operation Bluebird, has petitioned the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to cancel the Twitter trademarks, claiming that Elon Musk’s X Corp has abandoned them. The company is planning to use the names “Twitter” and “tweet” for its competitor platform, twitter.new, and has also applied to register the trademark “Twitter.”
The petition was sent on December 2. It was sent by Stephen Coates. He is a former trademark attorney at Twitter. He is currently serving as Operation Bluebird’s general counsel.
Musk bought Twitter in 2022 for $44 bln and changed its name to X, thus gradually switching off the Twitter brand, logo, and domain. In 2023, Musk publicly stated that the company would “say goodbye to the Twitter brand and, over time, to all the birds.”
Operation Bluebird argues that X has “removed” the Twitter brand from its products and services. Coates called the case “clear,” saying that X “actually gave up the TWITTER mark in the eyes of the law.”
X Corp’s renewal registration for the Twitter trademark was allowed last year. Analysts suggest the company may face obstacles in proving ownership. This could happen if it stopped using the brand. Intellectual property attorney Josh Gerben has no connection to the case. He noted that X may still try to stop Operation Bluebird from using the Twitter name. This could occur if the cancellation is granted.
Gerben called the dispute “an interesting test as to whether or not X will invest in protecting a brand that they no longer want to use.”
