In response to a recent trademark petition claiming X had abandoned the Twitter name, the company updated its Terms of Service today, in an apparent effort to preempt the filing. Here are the details.
Twitter lives on, if only in X’s updated Terms of Service
A few days ago, Ars Technica reported that Operation Bluebird, a Virginia-based startup, had asked the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to cancel some of X’s trademarks on the grounds of abandonment:
“The TWITTER and TWEET brands have been eradicated from X Corp.’s products, services, and marketing, effectively abandoning the storied brand, with no intention to resume use of the mark,” the petition states. “The TWITTER bird was grounded.”
Specialists who spoke to Ars Technica said that, given how X and Elon Musk dealt with the transition away from the Twitter brand, Operation Bluebird could have a viable case against the company.
At the time, X didn’t reply to Ars Technica’s request for comment, but behind the scenes, iit appears to have moved to reinforce its legal position. Today, as spotted by TechCrunch, X updated its Terms of Service to explicitly state that it still claims rights to the Twitter name and related trademarks:
Nothing in the Terms gives you a right to use the X name or Twitter name or any of the X or Twitter trademarks, logos, domain names, other distinctive brand features, and other proprietary rights, and you may not do so without our express written consent.
Whether this will be enough to undercut Operation Bluebird’s plans, will be up to the USPTO to decide.
Do you think X should lose the Twitter trademark? Let us know in the comments.
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