Elon Musk could lose Twitter to a startup. A former Twitter lawyer believes it’s possible

by

Operation Bluebird, a startup based in Virginia, is attempting to regain the “Twitter” and “tweet” trademarks from Elon Musk‘s X Corp. They’ve petitioned the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to cancel X Corp.’s trademarks, arguing that the rebranding of the platform to “X” constitutes abandonment. Bluebird has also applied to trademark “Twitter” themselves, intending to use it for a new social media platform at twitter.new. The request was made by Stephen Coates, previously a trademark lawyer at Twitter, who now leads a small law firm and acts as Bluebird’s legal counsel (according to Reuters).

Operation Bluebird aims to bring back Twitter

In 2022, Elon Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion and later changed its name to X. His announcement in 2023 that the company would eventually eliminate the Twitter name and bird logo is now being used as proof that the Twitter brand has been discontinued.

Even if a company stops using a trademark, the trademark itself doesn’t immediately become available for others to use. While a trademark can become vulnerable if it’s not used for a long time, X Corp. could still legally prevent others from using the name ‘Twitter’. X Corp. recently renewed the ‘Twitter’ trademark in 2023 and has until February 2026 to address a challenge to the trademark from Bluebird.

Operation Bluebird isn’t simply focused on the legal side of things; they’ve already started building a potential new social network. They’ve launched the domain twitter.new and are letting users claim their usernames, suggesting they aim to recreate the original Twitter experience.

Elon Musk is so busy with projects like his new AI, robotics work, and Grokipedia – which launched this October – that he might not bother protecting the Twitter trademark.

Read More

2025-12-11 17:02