Key Points
- Elon Musk’s company, X, is now fighting to keep the “Twitter” trademarks. This comes after Musk publicly declared his intention to abandon the brand.
- A new startup, Operation Bluebird, is seeking to acquire the Twitter trademarks for its own platform.
- X has updated its terms of service and filed a legal petition to reassert its ownership of the name.
- The move suggests X still sees value in the Twitter brand, at least enough to block a competitor.
Despite Elon Musk’s very public effort to kill the Twitter brand, his company, X, is now fighting to keep the famous name and trademarks. The move comes in response to a new startup seeking to take over the old Twitter brand for its own social media platform.
The startup, called Operation Bluebird, was co-founded by a former Twitter lawyer. Last week, it filed a petition with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to cancel X’s control of the Twitter trademarks.
The startup argues that since Musk has “eradicated” the brand from his platform, he has effectively abandoned it, and that it should be available for purchase.
Musk did, after all, famously declare in 2022 that “soon we shall bid adieu to the Twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds.” But it seems he’s had a change of heart now that someone else wants the name.
In response, X has quietly updated its terms of service to reassert its ownership of both the “X” and “Twitter” names. The company has also filed a counterpetition, declaring that the Twitter trademarks are its “exclusive property.”
The legal battle is just beginning, but it’s a strange development. Operation Bluebird has already attracted over 145,000 people to sign up for a handle on its planned “Twitter.new” platform. It seems X sees this as a threat and has decided that the old Twitter brand still has value, at least enough to keep it out of the hands of a potential competitor.
