Twitter's Application for 'Tweet' Trademark Rejected

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 20, 2009 - 7:42am.

San Francisco - Twitter's application for the trademark "tweet" has been preliminarily rejected by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, with the reason given being that third-party Twitter services TweetMarks, Cotweet and Tweetphoto have already filed applications to trademark the word, CNET News.com reported.

News of the obstacle to Twitter's trademarking of "tweet" was first reported by blogger Sam Johnston.

"We have applied to trademark Tweet because it is clearly attached to Twitter from a brand perspective but we have no intention of 'going after' the wonderful applications and services that use the word in their name when associated with Twitter," co-founder Biz Stone wrote on the company's blog after it had applied for the trademark.

"In fact, we encourage the use of the word Tweet. However, if we come across a confusing or damaging project, the recourse to act responsibly to protect both users and our brand is important."

It's unclear what the next step will be for Twitter with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

http://samj.net/2009/08/twitters-tweet-trademark-torpedoed.html