Elon Musk’s social platform X is moving to reinforce its legal control over the Twitter brand after a newcomer challenged its rights to the name, reported Tech Crunch.
A Virginia–based startup called Operation Bluebird recently filed a petition asking the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to cancel X’s trademarks for “Twitter” and related marks, arguing that X effectively abandoned the old brand when it rebranded from Twitter to X. The challengers even applied to register the Twitter name for their own new social network.
In response, X has updated its Terms of Service, effective January 15, 2026, to make it explicit that no one can use the Twitter name, trademarks, logos, domains, or other brand elements without written permission. Previously, the terms only made this clear about the X brand itself.
X has also filed a countersuit, insisting it still owns the Twitter trademarks outright and denying that the rebrand constitutes abandonment. “Despite Bluebird’s purported plan, it cannot bring Twitter “back”—Twitter never
left and continues to be exclusively owned by X Corp. The TWITTER and TWEET trademarks, the bluebird Twitter logo (collectively, the “TWITTER Marks,” as further defined with registration numbers below), and all associated consumer goodwill and recognition, were purchased by X Corp. in a transaction valued at billions of dollars and remain X Corp.’s exclusive property,” the countersuit claims, adding that “X Corp. brings this lawsuit to protect its valid, subsisting, and incontestable intellectual property and to protect consumers from being deceived by Bluebird’s admitted attempt to steal X Corp.’s rights and to co-opt the TWITTER Marks’ reputation and goodwill.” The company argues that the longstanding public recognition of the Twitter name, continued use through redirects like twitter.com, and enforcement of its marks mean those rights remain intact. X is seeking court orders to block competitors from using the name and unspecified damages.
