Trademark battle fully underway! Former Twitter legal chief challenges Musk, sparking the rebirth battle of the blue bird

Former senior legal executives of Twitter formed Operation Bluebird, claiming that X has abandoned the Twitter trademark and filed for its cancellation. Musk responded with an emergency lawsuit to counter, making the blue bird ownership a focal point of legal battles.

“Reviving from the dead” is a key element in the 2025 Netflix Taiwanese drama “Soul Return,” and across the Pacific in Silicon Valley, a rebirth battle is also unfolding: the famous Twitter blue bird trademark.

A startup organization called “Operation Bluebird” has petitioned the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to cancel X’s rights to the Twitter and Tweet trademarks, arguing that Musk, since rebranding the platform as X, has effectively abandoned the traditional brand. Musk may not have anticipated that he would end up in court just to prove “that bird is still alive.”

When a brand is physically erased but remains vivid in the collective memory of hundreds of millions, is it legally “dead” or “alive”?

Revival: The former legal chief leads a “tomb raiding” operation

This surprise attack occurred in early December 2025. According to reports from Ars Technica and TechRadar, the startup Operation Bluebird officially filed a petition with the USPTO to cancel X Corp’s rights to the “Twitter” and “Tweet” trademarks.

These challengers are not just amateurs. Core members of Operation Bluebird include Illinois lawyer Michael Peroff and former Twitter General Counsel Stephen Coates. Their argument is that X has “intentionally abandoned” the trademarks.

In their petition, Operation Bluebird states that X Corp has thoroughly removed the Twitter and Tweet brands from its products, services, and marketing, constituting a substantial abandonment. The strongest evidence they hold is Musk’s own tweets. In July 2023, Musk publicly stated: “We will say goodbye to the Twitter brand and gradually say farewell to all the birds.”

Image source: X/@elonmusk

“They said goodbye, so we say hello,” Stephen Coates said in a statement to the media, with a provocative tone.

Moreover, Operation Bluebird is not just after the name; they are also ready with products. They plan to launch a new social platform called “Twitter.new” by the end of 2026. They claim to have developed a working prototype and are even opening pre-registrations, with nearly 150,000 users having reserved accounts so far.

Operation Bluebird hopes to restore the “Town Square” atmosphere of the old Twitter—an immediate information hub that was lively despite the chaos before Musk took over. For advertisers and users fed up with X’s algorithms and content moderation, this is undoubtedly an enticing proposal.

Musk Responds Quickly! X Quietly Updates Terms of Service, Explicitly Mentions “Twitter”

X quickly countered.

Shortly after Operation Bluebird’s petition, according to reports from The Register and Ars Technica, X Corp filed a lawsuit on December 16 in a federal court in Delaware, accusing Operation Bluebird of trademark infringement.

In a 43-page complaint, X Corp firmly states: “Twitter has never left; it is still exclusively owned by X Corp.” To support this, X presented a series of data to demonstrate that “Twitter” is still actively used in commerce:

1. Traffic evidence: According to X, over 4 million users visit the platform daily via twitter.com.
2. Language habits: Global users still refer to the platform as Twitter, calling posts Tweets.
3. Third-party links: Many commercial websites and authorized third parties still use the blue bird icon as a social link.

Interestingly, X Corp appears to have made an “emergency patch” for this lawsuit. According to TechTrendsKE, X recently quietly updated its Terms of Service (ToS), re-including explicit references to Twitter, stating that users may not use the X or Twitter names without written consent. This update likely occurred after Operation Bluebird’s petition.

Image source: X X updated the Terms of Service, re-adding the word “Twitter.”

Stephen Coates scoffs at this, seeing it as a sign of X’s guilt: “They spent huge resources building a new identity and claiming the old one is dead, only to rush back to reclaim the old name when challenged.”

X’s legal strategy is that “brand rebranding” does not equal “trademark abandonment.” They argue that even if the main brand has become X, during the transition, residual goodwill from Twitter still belongs to the company assets and cannot be stolen.

Is X legally justified?

The core issue in this dispute is: what constitutes “use” under the law?

When X has almost completely removed the blue bird logo and interface elements and publicly declared a “farewell,” third parties can argue that the trademark has been abandoned. Major international patent and trademark law firms also stated on Facebook that Operation Bluebird’s claims have legal basis.

However, Washington D.C. trademark attorney Josh Gerben analyzed for Ars Technica that proving a large company has “completely abandoned” its trademark is as difficult as “climbing Mount Everest.” As long as X can demonstrate they have maintained minimal connections in their business activities (such as domain redirects), courts tend to favor the original rights holder.

For companies, rebranding and renaming are common, but if they want to retain the old brand, they must not publicly declare they are “killing” it, and must preserve domain redirects or include historical descriptions in terms of service and official websites. The most basic safeguard is to continue paying trademark renewal fees.

The outcome of this war remains unpredictable. Although Operation Bluebird is led by former executives, facing X Corp’s legal army, it is still an asymmetrical battle.

As senior TechRadar journalist Lance Ulanoff said, even if Operation Bluebird wins the trademark, their challenges are just beginning: trying to revive a “dead” brand atmosphere is as difficult as trying to put magic back into a bottle.

• This article is reprinted with permission from: 《Startup Gathering》
• Original title: 《You don’t need it, so can I use it? Startup challenges Musk, fighting for Twitter’s “Blue Bird” trademark》
• Original author: Zeng Linghu