X updates its terms, files countersuit to lay claim to the ‘Twitter’ trademark after newcomer’s challenge

Summary

Elon Musk’s X is updating its to indicate it still lays claim to the “Twitter” trademark. The move to add this detail to the company’s terms follows an announcement from a Virginia-based startup, which recently filed an application to trademark the term “Twitter.” The startup, Operation Bluebird, claims that X had abandoned the brand “Twitter” by renaming its social networking service “X.” In its petition to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office filed on December 2, the startup pointed to a post from X owner Musk on July 23, 2023, which proclaimed that the social network would soon “bid adieu to the twitter brand.” X is now challenging that claim with a countersuit of its own. (A copy of the filing was shared with TechCrunch via IP trademark law firm Gerben IP; it’s not yet showing in PACER as of the time of publication.) In the filing, X says that it continues to exclusively own the Twitter and Tweet trademarks and the bluebird logo. Since filing its petition for cancellation, Operation Bluebird has been collecting potential user sign-ups for its own social network at a website named Twitter.new. The effort is headed up by two lawyers, including founder Michael Peroff, based in Illinois, and Stephen Coates, previously a trademark lawyer at Twitter. Given their backgrounds, their assertion that they plan to launch a new service to rival X seems dubious. It’s more likely they want to acquire the trademark, which has value of its own. Nevertheless, X isn’t taking its chances. Its revised , effective as of January 15, 2026, states: “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.” Previously, the terms only referenced X in this section. There was no mention of Twitter. The terms additionally include other, more minor updates, including mentions related to EU laws a...