• Emerging platform seeks to obtain Twitter’s trademarks
• Plans to use the marks to operate a rival to X

A fledgling social media platform has submitted a request to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to cancel Twitter’s trademarks in order to acquire them, noting that X Corp, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, has abandoned them.

The Virginia-based startup Operation Bluebird said in a petition submitted on December 2 that it seeks to use the marks "Twitter" and "Tweet" for a rival platform called "twitter.new," and has also applied to register the trademark "Twitter."

The petition was filed by Stephen Coates, the former trademark lawyer at Twitter, who currently serves as general counsel for Operation Bluebird and runs a small law firm.

Musk had purchased Twitter in 2022 for $44 billion and rebranded it as X.

Operation Bluebird’s filings state that X has “eradicated” the Twitter mark from its products, services, and marketing.

In 2023, Musk posted on the X platform that the company would gradually bid farewell to the Twitter mark and all related birds.

X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Coates said in a statement: "X has legally abandoned the Twitter mark."

The report notes that after rebranding, X no longer uses the platform’s famous blue bird logo and has moved from twitter.com to x.com, with the renewal of the Twitter trademark having been approved in 2023.

Josh Gerben, an intellectual property lawyer not involved in the dispute, said that X could face difficulties defending its trademark ownership if it stops using the marks.

However, he added that the company could try to block the commercial use of the Twitter name by Operation Bluebird even if the cancellation succeeds.