The Battle for the Blue Bird
When Elon Musk officially rebranded Twitter to “X” in July 2023, he famously posted that the company would soon “bid adieu to the Twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds.” For many, it seemed like the end of an era. However, a new legal battle in a Delaware federal court proves that while the bird may have flown off the app icon, X Corp has no intention of letting the trademark go without a fight.+1
The conflict began when a Virginia-based startup called Operation Bluebird filed a petition with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on December 2. Their argument was simple: by rebranding so aggressively and publicly distancing itself from its former identity, X had legally “abandoned” the Twitter trademark. Under trademark law, if a brand name is no longer in use, it can sometimes be declared “ripe for the picking” by others.
A New Rival or a Strategic Move?
Operation Bluebird isn’t just looking to archive history; they want to “bring Twitter back.” The startup, led by founder Michael Peroff and former Twitter trademark lawyer Stephen Coates, has already launched a website at twitter.new to collect user sign-ups for a rival social media platform.
While the founders claim they want to restore the platform to its former glory, industry analysts are skeptical. Given the legal backgrounds of the leadership team, some believe the move is less about launching a new app and more about a strategic attempt to seize a brand name that still holds immense global value.
Michael Peroff remains confident, stating, “Our cancellation petition is based on well-established trademark law and we believe we will be successful. We are prepared to take this as far as we need to.”
X Strikes Back: “Alive and Well”
X Corp’s response was swift and definitive. In a countersuit filed in Delaware, the company asserted that the Twitter brand is “alive and well” and remains the exclusive property of X Corp. Their argument hinges on the fact that millions of users still access the service via twitter.com, and both businesses and the general public still colloquially refer to the platform as Twitter.
