Well, whaddaya know. Elon Musk, alleged genius and CEO of Tesla, somehow forgot to secure the Twitter trademark after he purchased the formerly iconic social media firm in 2022 and de-evolutionized it into a cesspool of Nazi-adjacent, porn-addled slime outperformed only by the current state of the Lincoln Memorial Reflection Pool in Washington, DC. And now, the former general counsel of Twitter is — you guessed it — bringing Twitter back. Wait, Is Twitter Really Coming Back? Before you get too excited, the status of the Twitter trademark is still tied up in court. However, former Twitter general counsel Stephen Coates and his colleagues have a case to make, and they have sallied forth in the form of a Virginia-based social media startup called Operation Bluebird. Reuters and other news organizations captured the scoop last year. As described by Reuters Legal reporter Mike Scarella on December 8, the “fledgling social media platform” set the wheels in motion when Coates petitioned the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to cancel the Twitter trademarks, acting in his current capacity as Operation Bluebird’s general counsel. The basis for the filing was trademark abandonment by the X Corporation wing of Elon Musk’s sprawling empire. If successful, the bid will re-trademark “Twitter” for Operation Bluebird alongside the right to use “Twitter” and “tweet” in the firm’s new social media platform. That’s if, not when. Scarella further reported that X Corporation filed a renewal registration for the Twitter trademark in 2023, which the US Patent and Trademark Office approved in 2024. Twitter Vs. Twitter Furthermore, X Corporation also promptly fired back in court, seeking a preliminary injunction against Operation Bluebird last December. However, in April of this year Judge Colm Connolly, the chief US district judge of the US District Court for the District of Delaware, reportedly assessed that X Corporation gave up its intellectual property claims over “tweet” and Twitter’s iconic bird logo, potentially losing the name “Twitter” as well. The assessment was a tentative one, issued in the form of a comment from the bench. No written order followed the commentary, as pointed out by Trademark Lawyer Magazine. “Indeed, the latest reporting confirms that no written order resolving X’s preliminary-injunction application had been issued when Operation Bluebird launched Twitter.now,” the publication reported on August 27. “The dispute goes to one of the most important questions in trademark law following a major rebrand: when does retiring a famous brand become abandonment?” TLM elaborates. “Under US trademark law, abandonment occurs when use of a mark has been discontinued with an intent not to resume use,” TLM adds. “The statute also provides that non-use for three consecutive years constitutes prima facie evidence of abandonment,” TLM continues, while cautioning that the three-year lapse does not automatically confer abandonment status on a trademark. The trademark does not simply evaporate after three years of non-use. The ultimate decision depends on particular circumstances, including whether or not the original owner of the trademark intended to revive it. Intention Matters As far as intention goes, Elon Musk made his intention perfectly clear after purchasing Twitter. “The company undertook one of the most visible corporate rebrands in recent technology history, replacing the Twitter identity with X and removing the familiar blue bird from the platform,” TLM emphasizes. “The Twitter dispute highlights the legal consequences that can arise when a company publicly and comprehensively moves away from a famous brand,” TLM concludes. In terms of general trademark disputes, TLM also note that the case is particularly interesting due to Coates’s former position at Twitter and his current position at Operation Bluebird. To further spice things up a bit, Judge Connolly was nominated for a seat on the Delaware bench in 2017 by a well-known supporter of Elon Musk, US President Donald Trump. That was during Trump’s first term in office, years before Musk purchased Twitter and went on to beome a full blown supporter of Trump. Meet The New Twitter, Not The Same As The Old Elon Musk Twitter Evidently Coates is not waiting around for the paint to dry. While the matter is still in legal limbo, he announced the formal launch of Twitter Now in a LinkedIn post last week. “When X Corp. retired the Twitter brand, we saw an opportunity to build something new: a public square organized around trust, transparency, and user choice,” Coates stated, adding that “Twitter.now is not an attempt to recreate the old platform.” As of this writing, “Twitter.now” is an Operation Bluebird website that currently displays a maintenance message: We’re down. We’re on it. Already learning things the hard way. We will be back as soon as we can. Potential users and investors can still get in touch, though, by filling out online forms posted on another Operation Bluebird site, twitter.new. With that hovering in the background, the rest of Coates’s LinkedIn post provides some insights into what Twitter Now will look like, if it materializes: We are building a different service, with trust signals that provide context for what users see and tools that allow people—not an opaque algorithm—to decide how much credibility and noise reach their feeds. Our governing principle is simple: freedom of speech, not freedom of reach. Twitter is a reclaimed brand. We are not X and are not affiliated with X Corp. Early access is now open. Founding members can help us build and test the platform, get first shot at the handle of their choice, and claim their place in itshistory—including Founder number #00001. The public square is open again, and definitely not affiliated with X in any way. Whatsoever. Get over your X. The bird is back. What, Exactly, Is Twitter.Now? Over the weekend I copied some text from twitter.now that offers up a slightly more elaborate explanation (following text captured on August 29 before the site went down): We’re rebuilding the experience millions of people once loved: a place where news breaks, ideas collide, communities form, and anyone can have a voice. But we’re not trying to recreate the past. We’re building what comes next. A social network designed around trust, transparency, user control, and open conversation. A place where free expression is protected, the rules apply equally, bots and manipulation do not determine what matters, and people have meaningful control over what reaches them. Algorithms learned to reward outrage. Bots learned to manufacture consensus. Trust became harder to earn and easier to fake. We think there’s a better model. There’s more, but you get the general idea. I’ve reached out to Operation Bluebird for additional clarification and will post an update once I hear back. In the meantime, let’s hear from some trademark lawyers. What do you think, will Operation Bluebird fly? Share your thoughts in the discussion thread. Image: The US startup Operation Bluebird has launched a new social media platform under the Twitter name, claiming that Elon Musk’s X Corporation abandoned the trademark (screenshot, courtesy of Operation Bluebird).
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