A federal court in Delaware has ruled on a trademark dispute involving Elon Musk's X and a startup named Operation Bluebird, which is attempting to launch a rival social network. The court has prohibited Operation Bluebird from using the name Twitter.now, siding with X on the core "Twitter" trademark. However, the court found that X had likely abandoned two related trademarks: the term "tweet" and the Twitter bird logo, allowing their use. Operation Bluebird has since rebranded its website as Tweet.app, utilizing the available "tweet" name, and has launched to the public.
The startup, based in Virginia, aims to acquire trademarks that X has relinquished. The homepage of Operation Bluebird states its intention to reclaim what X has abandoned following the rebranding from Twitter to X. The effort is led by two lawyers, including founder Michael Peroff from Illinois and Stephen Coates, a former trademark lawyer at Twitter. Their claim of wanting to build a new social network has raised skepticism, as it appears they are more focused on acquiring valuable Twitter trademarks.
Operation Bluebird has reported that over 172,000 people requested a handle on the site prior to its launch, likely due to the lingering popularity of the name "Twitter," which they are unable to use. The startup is charging users $20 to reserve their handle, which may assist in covering legal expenses.
The court's ruling is not final. U.S. District Court Judge Colm F. Connolly issued a split ruling on X's request for a preliminary injunction aimed at preventing Operation Bluebird from using several Twitter trademarks that the startup claims X has abandoned since its rebranding. The judge granted X's motion for a preliminary injunction concerning eight Twitter-related marks but denied it for the Tweet mark and the Twitter bird logo.
In his opinion, Judge Connolly noted that Bluebird is "likely to succeed in proving both that X Corp. discontinued the bona fide use of the Tweet mark and Bird logo and that it intends not to resume the use of the marks." The case will continue to determine whether X retains rights to any Twitter marks, given its current branding as X.
Coates, president of Operation Bluebird, commented on the rebranding, stating, "They kept the word. They let go of the bird, and they let go of the tweet. A tweet was never a corporation. It’s one person saying something. That word survived three years of a company trying to replace it, because the public declined to stop using it. We think that tells you who it belongs to," he said.