Judge partially blocks X rival from using 'Twitter' name, but allows 'Tweet'
A Delaware federal court barred startup Operation Bluebird from using the name 'Twitter,' but ruled that Elon Musk's X had likely abandoned rights to the word 'tweet' and its bird logo. The startup has already rebranded its site as Tweet.app and opened it to the public.
A federal court in Delaware has issued a split ruling in a trademark dispute between Elon Musk's X and a startup attempting to launch a competing social network. Operation Bluebird originally launched under the name Twitter.now, but the court blocked it from using 'Twitter,' siding with X on that core trademark.
At the same time, U.S. District Court Judge Colm F. Connolly found that X had likely stopped using two other related trademarks — the word 'tweet' and the bird logo — and did not intend to resume using them, meaning those marks are now available. The judge granted X's request for a preliminary injunction covering eight Twitter-related marks, but denied it for the 'tweet' word and bird logo.
Operation Bluebird has since rebranded its site as Tweet.app and launched it publicly. The company's homepage states its goal is to reclaim what Musk left behind when he renamed the platform X. The effort is led by two lawyers: founder Michael Peroff, based in Illinois, and Stephen Coates, a former Twitter trademark lawyer who now serves as Operation Bluebird's president.
The company told TechCrunch that more than 172,000 people requested a handle before launch, reflecting continued public affinity for the 'Twitter' brand name, which it is now barred from using. Tweet.app charges users $20 to reserve a handle and join, which likely helps cover legal costs.
The court's ruling is not final — the case will continue to determine whether X retains rights to any of the Twitter-related marks. In a statement, Coates said the word 'tweet' survived three years of the company trying to replace it because the public kept using it, arguing that shows who the word truly belongs to.
