Elon Musk’s X updates its Terms of Service to indicate it still claims the “Twitter” trademark. The move to add this detail to the company’s terms follows one communication from a Virginia-based startup that recently filed to trademark the term “Twitter.”
The startup, Operation Bluebird, claims X had abandoned the “Twitter” trademark by renaming the social networking service “X.” In its application to the US Patent and Trademark Office filed on December 2, the startup pointed to a post by owner X Musk on July 23, 2023, which proclaimed that the social network would soon “say goodbye to the twitter brand”.
X now disputes this claim with a counterclaim by itself. In the new filing, X says it continues to exclusively own the Twitter and Tweet trademarks and the bluebird logo.
From his deposition reference to cancel, Operation Bluebird collects potential user registrations for its own social network on a site called Twitter.new. THE the effort is directed upwards by two lawyers, including the founder Michael Peroff, based in Illinois and Stephen Coatesformerly trademark attorney at Twitter. Given their track record, their claim that they plan to launch a new service to rival X seems dubious. They are more likely to want to own the brand, which has its own value.
However, X is not taking any chances. Revised Terms of Servicewith effect from January 15, 2026, states:
“Nothing in the Terms gives you the right to use the X name or the 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 referred to X in this section. No mention was made on Twitter.
The terms also include other, smaller updates, including references related to EU law and generated content. X’s Privacy Policy has also been updated with some references to age proofing technology.
Updated with link to counterclaim after original post.
