Elon Musk acquired Twitter well over a year ago and in July 2023, the billionaire entrepreneur undertook an aggressive rebranding. The platform formerly known as Twitter is now called “X,” and Musk made great efforts to do away with the old blue-bird branding. However, a new USPTO filing shows the company is still defending the Twitter trademark.

In May 2022 — less than a month after Musk initiated the acquisition of Twitter — the United States Patent and Trademark Office received an application from a man named Robert Ward. This name likely doesn’t ring any bells, but the word “Tweet” was included in his trademark application. Suddenly, it seems like X isn’t quite done with Twitter.

X Tries to Prevent Violation of Twitter Trademark

On May 13, 2022, the USPTO received an application for the trademark “But His Tweets.” The phrase is a reference to former President Donald Trump. Its intent is to infer that people were only upset about Trump’s behavior on Twitter. Like the “But Her Emails” phrase used for Hillary Clinton, the phrase implies that voters should have worried about bigger issues on the other side of the political aisle.

Donald Trump and Elon Musk have been friendly — with Musk allowing Trump back onto Twitter and the former president recently meeting with the tech magnate for a cash infusion. However, Musk’s X Corp. still filed a Notice of Opposition against the “But His Tweets” application. Fortunately for the relationship between Musk and Trump, this filing likely won’t have a negative effect.

That’s because Trump doesn’t seem to be connected to the application. The filing was submitted as an intent to use trademark — meaning the applicant hasn’t used the phrase in commerce. Additionally, an internet search shows that “GOP Mall” — unaffiliated with the actual GOP — seems to be the only retail company that features the phrase on merchandise.

This likely means the trademark opposition won’t anger Republicans, but it raises interesting questions about the Twitter trademark.

Musk Simply Can’t Leave Twitter Behind

When Elon Musk rebranded Twitter as “X,” he made it clear that we wanted to leave the Twitter brand behind. He even went so far as to say that users should refer to a post on the platform as an “X” rather than a “tweet.” Interestingly, it’s the company’s prior terminology that led to their opposition filing based on the “But His Tweets” application.

In their opposition notice, X Corp. submitted 38 pages explaining why the trademark application should be denied. They make many valid legal points — explaining that “Tweet” has been trademarked by the company for over a decade. This is clearly long before any purported use of “But His Tweets” by the applicant — particularly since the filing specifies that they had not yet used the phrase commercially.

However, there’s no debate that Musk has made significant efforts to depart from his company’s original branding. While the Twitter trademark is still registered with the USPTO — along with trademarks for the word “Tweet” — one has to wonder if the rebrand will affect the company’s intellectual property rights related to outdated branding. Unfortunately, this is one of the risks of tossing out established branding.

What Happens Next?

The applicant seeking rights over “But His Tweets” has gone through a long process to secure trademark rights. While his application was filed in May 2022, the applicant didn’t receive a Notice of Publication until November 2023.

The applicant can now either respond to X Corp.’s opposition — or they can end their attempt at securing the trademark. Of course, there aren’t many who would covet a legal fight with Elon Musk that could eventually lead to intellectual property litigation. Therefore, it would be quite surprising if this case went any further.

Still, this trademark dispute shows that the aggressive rebranding to X may not have been as aggressive as originally thought. While Musk may be prepared to remove the blue bird from his branding materials, it doesn’t look like his company has any intent of abandoning its Twitter trademarks.