\n<\/p>\n
A Virginia startup<\/span> calling itself Operation Bluebird announced this week that it has filed a formal petition<\/a> with the US Patent and Trademark Office, asking the federal agency to cancel X Corporation\u2019s trademarks of the words \u201cTwitter<\/a>\u201d and \u201ctweet\u201d since X<\/a> has allegedly abandoned them.<\/p>\n \u201cThe TWITTER and TWEET brands have been eradicated from X Corp.\u2019s products, services, and marketing, effectively abandoning the storied brand, with no intention to resume use of the mark,\u201d the petition states. \u201cThe TWITTER bird was grounded.\u201d<\/p>\n If successful, two leaders of the group tell Ars, Operation Bluebird would launch a social network under the name Twitter.new<\/a>, possibly as early as late next year. (Twitter.new has created a working prototype and is already inviting users to reserve handles.)<\/p>\n Neither X Corporation nor its owner Elon Musk immediately responded to Ars Technica\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n Michael Peroff<\/a>, an Illinois attorney and founder of Operation Bluebird, said that in the intervening years, more Twitter-like social media networks have sprung up or gained traction\u2014like Threads, Mastodon, and Bluesky. But none have the scale or brand recognition that Twitter did prior to Musk\u2019s takeover.<\/p>\n \u201cThere certainly are alternatives,\u201d Peroff said. \u201cI don\u2019t know that any of them at this point in time are at the scale that would make a difference in the national conversation, whereas a new Twitter really could.\u201d<\/p>\n Similarly, Peroff\u2019s business partner, Stephen Coates<\/a>, an attorney who formerly served as Twitter\u2019s general counsel, said that Operation Bluebird aims to re-create some of the magic that Twitter once had.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember some time ago, I\u2019ve had celebrities react to my content on Twitter during the Super Bowl or events,\u201d he told Ars. \u201cAnd we want that experience to come back, that whole town square, where we are all meshed in there.\u201d<\/p>\n Elon Musk bought Twitter in 2022<\/a> for $44 billion. He eventually changed the company name and brand identity from Twitter to X<\/a>. That decision, Operation Bluebird says, created an opening for the Twitter name to be formally abandoned.<\/p>\nCould It Work?<\/h2>\n