In July 2023 Elon Musk posted that “soon we shall bid adieu to the Twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds.” The logo went, the name went, “tweet” went; the company became X, and X now belongs to Musk’s AI firm xAI. Most people assumed the story was over. A small startup has noticed that in trademark law, throwing a name away is not the same as keeping it — and has asked the United States Patent and Trademark Office to hand it over.
The petition
Operation Bluebird filed to cancel X Corp’s registrations for “Twitter” and “Tweet”. Its argument, in a statement to Engadget from Stephen Coates, is straightforward: X “legally abandoned the Twitter name, publicly declared the Twitter brand dead, and spent enormous resources building a new identity.” Under US law a trademark that its owner stops using for three years, with no intent to resume, is presumed abandoned and can be claimed by someone who will use it. Operation Bluebird says it will: it plans products and services under the Twitter name, including a social network at the old address.
X’s response
X has moved fast to look like a company that never let go. TechCrunch reported that its updated terms of service now mention Twitter again, stating that as of 16 January 2025 users are granted no right to use “the X or Twitter names, trademarks, logos, domain names or other brand features” without written permission — a clause whose main purpose appears to be to put the word “Twitter” back into a live legal document. X has also filed a counter-petition asserting the Twitter marks as its exclusive property. And one thread was never cut: twitter.com still redirects to x.com, which X can point to as continuing use.
Who is likely to win
Abandonment cases turn on intent, and X will argue that redirecting the domain and referencing the name in legal terms shows it never meant to give the brand up — while its owner’s own public statements say the opposite. Trademark lawyers generally expect a large company with a live domain and a determined legal department to prevail over a startup, but the case is genuinely open, and even a settlement could leave Operation Bluebird with rights it did not have last year.
Why it matters
“Twitter” is still what most of the world, and nearly all of Bangladesh, calls the service; news bulletins here say “tweeted” to this day. A brand that people keep using after its owner discards it has residual value, which is exactly what Operation Bluebird is after and exactly what X, two years after declaring the bird dead, has just been reminded of. Companies contemplating a rebrand should note the lesson: you can rename a product, but the old name does not stop existing, and if you do not use it, someone else may.
