GoKawiilCourt rules X still holds rights to 'Twitter' and 'Tweet' trademarks
A federal court rejected claims by rival startup Project Bluebird that X Corp. had abandoned the TWITTER, TWEET and Bird Logo trademarks after Elon Musk rebranded the platform. Project Bluebird had filed intent-to-use applications for TWITTER and TWEET and rebranded its own app from twitter.new to tweet.app following the ruling. The court pointed to X's Apple App Store listing, which still describes the app as 'formerly known as Twitter,' as evidence of continued bona fide trademark use.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The decision shows how companies can preserve trademark rights even while phasing out a brand name, simply by referencing it for continuity with past users. For Project Bluebird and similar Twitter-nostalgia startups, it closes off an easy path to reclaiming the old branding through an abandonment claim, forcing them to build distinct identities instead.
- A U.S. court found X Corp. has not abandoned the TWITTER and TWEET trademarks.
- X's App Store description calling itself 'formerly known as Twitter' was cited as active trademark use.
- Startup Project Bluebird renamed its app to tweet.app after losing its bid to claim the marks.
Source: blog.ericgoldman.org — Eric Goldman, 2026-09-09
Published there as: “"Tweet" and the bird logo apparently enter the public domain”
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