X Corp sues startup over ‘Twitter’ trademark, signaling the old brand isn’t up for grabs

X Corp has filed suit against a social media startup that moved to claim the “Twitter” brand, asserting that the platform’s rebrand to X did not extinguish trademark rights. The company’s position is straightforward: the name change doesn’t equal abandonment, and the legacy marks-think “Twitter,” related logos, and potentially associated terms-remain protected. The key takeaway here: X is actively policing its former branding, and anyone betting on a trademark vacuum after the rebrand should reconsider.

What this means for creators and toolmakers is mostly practical housekeeping. Audit product names, course titles, landing pages, app store listings, and merch for “Twitter” branding or iconography. If you’ve spun up offerings that feature “Twitter” in the name, rename them to reference “X” and use neutral, descriptive language instead. Worth noting for brands: keep your client-facing materials consistent-update SOWs, rate cards, and dashboards from “Twitter” to “X,” and clarify in copy where needed (e.g., “X, formerly Twitter”) for user understanding. On the performance side, refresh SEO and paid search strategies to prioritize “X” while retaining historical context carefully in page copy to capture legacy queries without leaning on trademarked branding. Social listening, taxonomy, and reporting should also be normalized so “X” data rolls up cleanly with prior Twitter metrics.

The bigger picture: this is a reminder that platform rebrands don’t open a free-for-all on legacy IP. For agencies and SaaS vendors, the risk is less about content posts and more about naming, logos, and commercial packaging that imply endorsement or origin. What this means for creators is minimal day-to-day change-keep posting-but avoid “Twitter” in productized offerings or visuals. The most strategic move now is continuity: align naming conventions, ensure brand-safe phrasing in sales materials, and keep an eye on any updated brand or developer guidelines from X. In short, the rebrand changed the label on the platform, not the rules around who owns its old name.