US startup attempts to relaunch the original Twitter

A US startup is attempting to launch a new social network that revives the original functionality and branding of Twitter before it was taken over by Elon Musk.

The Virginia-based startup, called Operation Bluebird, has already filed a petition calling for the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to allow it to reclaim the “abandoned” Twitter trademarks.

Twitter was rebranded to X in July 2023, nine months after Mr Musk took over the platform in a $44 billion deal.

The company still owns the website Twitter.com, which redirects to X.com, but has removed any logos or references to the former entity online.

X has also renamed features that had references to bird-oriented terminology, with the fact-checking program ‘Birdwatch’ now known as ‘Community Notes’.

Operation Bluebird already owns the domain twitter.new, allowing interested users to reserve a handle ahead of a potential launch.

The startup is run by two trademark attorneys, Michael Peroff and Stephen Coates, with Mr Coates previously serving as Twitter’s associate director of trademarks, domain names, and marketing from 2014 to 2016.

“The Twitter and Tweet brands have been eradicated from X Corp.’s products, services and marketing, effectively abandoning the storied bird, with no intention to resume use of the mark,” Operation Bluebird’s petition to the USPTO states.

“Bluebird hereby petitions to cancel all of the disputed marks... on the basis that X Corp. has legally abandoned its rights in the Twitter brand, with no intention to resume use of the disputed marks, and that it continues to commit fraud on the USPTO through the filing of false statements and declarations.”

The petition also references a post from Mr Musk shortly before the company rebranded from Twitter to X.

“And soon we shall bid adieu to the Twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds,” he wrote on 23 July 2023.

Mr Musk and X have until February to respond to the USPTO petition. The Independent has reached out to X for comment on the matter.