U.S. startup seeks to reclaim Twitter trademarks ‘abandoned’ by Musk’s X 

A fledgling social media platform has requested the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to cancel trademarks for Twitter so it could actually take them for itself, contending that billionaire Elon Musk’s X Corp has deserted them. The Virginia-based startup, Operation Bluebird, stated in its December 2 petition that it needs to be allowed to use “Twitter” and “tweet” for a rival social media platform known as “twitter.new.” It additionally filed an utility to trademark “Twitter.”

The petition was filed by Stephen Coates, a former trademark lawyer at Twitter who now serves as Operation Bluebird’s common counsel and runs a small regulation agency. Musk purchased Twitter in 2022 for $44 billion and rebranded the location to X. Operation Bluebird’s filings contend that X has “eradicated” the Twitter model from its merchandise, companies and advertising.

Musk in 2023 stated in a publish on X that the corporate would “bid adieu to the Twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds.”

X didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

Coates in an announcement known as the matter “straightforward” after X allegedly stopped utilizing the Twitter trademark commercially.

“X legally abandoned the TWITTER mark,” Coates stated. The rebranded X doesn’t function Twitter’s well-known blue hen brand, and the platform has migrated from twitter.com to x.com. X Corp’s 2023 renewal registration for the Twitter trademark was authorised final 12 months.

Josh Gerben, an mental property lawyer who shouldn’t be concerned within the dispute, stated X would face obstacles defending its possession of the trademarks if the corporate not makes use of them. But he stated X may attempt to block Operation Bluebird’s business use of the Twitter title even when the cancellation is profitable. Gerben known as Operation Bluebird’s problem “an interesting test as to whether or not X will invest in protecting a brand that they no longer want to use.”