A federal court in the U.S. state of Delaware has issued a ruling in a trademark dispute between the X platform, owned by Elon Musk, and a startup seeking to launch a competing social network.
اضافة اعلان
The startup, Operation Blue Bird, had initially launched its service under the name "Twitter Now," but the court barred it from using that name, siding with X on the core "Twitter" trademark.
However, the court also found that X had likely abandoned two other trademarks associated with Twitter the word "tweet" and Twitter's famous bird logo — potentially allowing their use.
Since the ruling, Operation Blue Bird has relaunched its site under the name "Tweet.app," making use of the "tweet" name, and opened the service to the public.
The startup's story, based in Virginia, is less about building a unique product than about attempting to claim trademarks it says X has abandoned.
The company's own homepage explains that its goal is to reclaim what Elon Musk left behind when he renamed the platform, once known as the "digital town square," to X, "ditching the bird on his way out," as the site puts it.
The effort is led by two lawyers: company founder Michael Perloff, based in Illinois, and Steven Coats, who previously worked as a trademark attorney at Twitter.
Given their legal backgrounds, the project's primary goal may well be building a new social network, though the greater interest is likely focused on acquiring Twitter's trademarks, which carry independent value of their own.
Nevertheless, "Tweet.app" has already begun taking steps to launch an actual service, opening its doors to users in an early testing phase.
The company told TechCrunch that more than 172,000 people had signed up to reserve a username on the platform before its launch.
Much of this interest is likely tied to the attachment many users still feel toward the "Twitter" name a name the company is no longer permitted to use.
Notably, the startup charges users a $20 fee to reserve a username and join the social network, which may help cover its legal expenses.
The Ruling Is Not Final
The court's ruling in this case is not final.
U.S. District Judge Colm F. Connolly issued a split decision on X's request for a preliminary injunction to block Operation Blue Bird from using a set of Twitter trademarks, which the startup says X abandoned since renaming the platform.
The judge granted X's request for a preliminary injunction regarding eight trademarks associated with Twitter, but denied the request concerning the "tweet" mark and Twitter's bird logo.
The judge wrote in his opinion that Blue Bird "is likely to succeed in showing that X Corp discontinued good-faith actual use" of the tweet mark and bird logo, and that it does not intend to resume using either mark.
The case will continue to determine whether X ultimately retains rights to any of the Twitter trademarks, given the company's adoption of the X name across most of its services and products.
Steven Coats, head of Operation Blue Bird, said in an announcement about the company's name change sent via email to TechCrunch: "Keep the word. Give up the bird, give up the tweet."
He added: "The tweet was never a company it's one person saying something. And that word stayed alive through three years in which a company tried to replace it, because the public refused to stop using it. We think that shows who it belongs to."
