Startup’s attempt to trademark Twitter prompts lawsuit from Elon Musk’s X

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X, formerly Twitter, has clarified in its updated Terms of Service that it continues to own the trademark for ‘Twitter’ after a company tried to lay claim to the name in a legal battle.

Okay, so there’s been a bit of a legal battle brewing! A company in Virginia basically said that when Elon Musk rebranded Twitter to X last year, he totally abandoned the Twitter brand. Now, X is fighting back – they’ve filed their own lawsuit and changed their user agreement to really emphasize that they still own the Twitter name and everything that comes with it. It’s all about protecting their brand, it seems!

So, this whole thing started a little while ago. Apparently, the new owners of Twitter – Operation Bluebird – tried to trademark the name “Twitter” itself with the US Patent and Trademark Office. It’s kinda weird they’d try to trademark the name of the platform they just bought, but that’s what they did!

As a longtime fan, it’s wild to see this all play out! Basically, this startup is claiming that because Elon Musk and his team completely changed the name of the platform – and even had Musk himself announce they were saying goodbye to the ‘Twitter’ name back on July 23rd, 2023 – they’ve actually given up their rights to the old branding. It’s like they’re saying by ditching ‘Twitter,’ they forfeited their claim to it!

X moves to block Twitter trademark challenge

X is officially disputing the previous claim. According to a countersuit provided to TechCrunch by the trademark law firm Gerben IP, X maintains it still exclusively owns the trademarks for “Twitter” and “Tweet,” along with the iconic blue bird logo. As of now, this legal filing hasn’t been made publicly available on the federal PACER system.

After filing its formal request, Operation Bluebird has started gathering interest for a new social network, with a website available at Twitter.new. Leading the project are Michael Peroff, the founder, and Stephen Coates, who previously worked as a trademark lawyer at Twitter.

In addition to legal steps, X has clarified who owns its brand by updating its Terms of Service. The new terms, starting January 15, 2026, clearly state that both the X and Twitter names are trademarks of the company.

The revised terms now clearly state that users cannot use the names, trademarks, logos, website addresses, or any other branding associated with either X or Twitter without getting specific written permission. Before this update, the terms only mentioned X and didn’t include Twitter.

This isn’t the first trademark lawsuit Elon Musk’s platform has faced since changing its name in 2023. Soon after the rebrand, another social media company sued them for using the ‘X’ logo and name.

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2025-12-17 23:19