Virginia startup calling itself Operation Bluebird announced this week that it did submitted a formal application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, asking the federal agency to invalidate X Corporation’s trademarks covering the words “Twitter” and “tweet” because X allegedly abandoned them.
“The TWITTER and TWEET brands have been removed from X Corp.’s products, services and marketing, effectively abandoning the established brand and having no intention of resuming use of the mark,” the petition states. “Twitter bird has been grounded.”
If successful, two of the group’s leaders tell Ars, Operation Bluebird will launch a social network under that name Twitter.newperhaps as early as the end of next year. (Twitter.recent has created a working prototype and is already inviting users to reserve handles.)
Neither X Corporation nor its owner Elon Musk immediately responded to Ars Technica’s request for comment.
Michael PeroffIllinois attorney and founder of Operation Bluebird, said that in the meantime, more Twitter-like social networks have emerged or gained popularity, such as Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky. However, none of them have the scale or brand recognition that Twitter had before Musk’s takeover.
“There are certainly alternatives,” Peroff said. “I don’t know that any of them are on a scale right now that would make a difference in the national conversation, whereas the new Twitter really could.”
Similarly, Peroff’s business partner, Stephen Coatesa lawyer who previously served as Twitter’s general counsel said that Operation Bluebird aims to recreate some of the magic that Twitter once had.
“A while back, I remember celebrities reacting to my content on Twitter during the Super Bowl or other events,” he told Ars. “We want that experience back, that whole marketplace where we’re all connected.”
Could this work?
Elon Musk bought Twitter in 2022 for $44 billion. Ultimately, he changed the company name and brand identity from Twitter to X. This decision, according to Operation Bluebird, created an opportunity to formally abandon the Twitter name.
In July 2023, Musk himself he tweeted that “we will say goodbye to the Twitter brand and gradually all birds.”
That’s when Peroff, a Chicago attorney specializing in trademark and intellectual property law, saw an opportunity not only to endorse the Twitter name, but also to employ the iconic illustrated logo that was affectionately called “Larry Bird” internally.