On Tuesday, X Corporation, formerly known as Twitter, sued “Operation Bluebird,” the new startup that is seeking to reclaim the allegedly abandoned Twitter trademark and relaunch a new social media network under that name.
In its 43-page lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Delaware, X Corporation alleges trademark infringement, adding that despite Bluebird’s “purported plan, it cannot bring Twitter ‘back’—Twitter never left and continues to be exclusively owned by X Corp.”
One of Bluebird’s leaders, Michael Peroff, told Ars in an email that Operation Bluebird was “fully expecting” a lawsuit from X Corporation and that “we planned for it.”
Stephen Coates, also of Operation Bluebird (and who formerly served as Twitter’s general counsel), reiterated to Ars that X “legally abandoned the TWITTER mark.”
“Our cancellation petition is based on well-established trademark law and we believe we will be successful,” he wrote in an emailed statement. “They said goodbye. We say hello.”
Neither X Corporation, nor its attorneys, nor CEO Elon Musk, immediately responded to Ars’ request for comment.
“Twitter is one of the world’s most recognized brands, and it belongs to X Corp,” X Corp’s lawsuit continues. “Simply put, a rebrand is not an abandonment of trademark rights.”
Josh Gerben, a Washington, DC-based trademark attorney who has been closely following this case, told Ars that proving that X Corporation has “abandoned” the trademark is a “huge uphill battle—they’re going to have to climb the equivalent of Mt. Everest.”
Operation Bluebird would also have to overcome the “residual goodwill”—the broad-scale brand recognition that most people still associate the name and brand “Twitter” with the X Corporation.
“It’s not like there’s been a trademark case like this before,” Gerben added, noting the rarity of a situation where a company so strongly dissociated itself from such a strong brand.
As Ars previously reported, Musk bought Twitter in 2022 for $44 billion. He eventually changed the company name and brand identity from Twitter to X. That decision, Operation Bluebird says, created an opening for the Twitter name to be formally abandoned.
In July 2023, Musk himself tweeted that “we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand, and gradually, all the birds.”
That was when Peroff, a Chicago-area attorney specializing in trademark and IP law, saw an opportunity not only to claim the name Twitter but also to use the iconic illustrated logo that was affectionately referred to internally as “Larry Bird.”
Peroff and others began formally organizing Operation Bluebird, a way to bring back Twitter in name, services, and format, catering in particular to commercial brands.
“There certainly are alternatives,” Peroff said last week. “I don’t know that any of them at this point in time are at the scale that would make a difference in the national conversation, whereas a new Twitter really could.”
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