Twitter Quibbles Over Control of the Term “Tweet”
Twitter is a highly successful Internet company that became an overnight sensation due to the modern appeal of social networking as well as the help of several high-profile celebrities. Twitter is essentially an online messaging service that allows its users to post 140-character messages known as “tweets”. It is fair to say that most Americans are familiar with Twitter and probably associate the company with the term “tweet”. Sounds great for Twitter, right? Well, there’s just one small problem. Twitter does not own “tweet” because of two Internet companies who claimed variations of the term first. Twitter’s attempts to trademark the term have been suspended by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and Twitter’s lawyers have argued that “tweet” was already well-known as a Twitter term before the rival companies filed their applications.
After several months of litigation, the Wall Street Journal reports that one of the companies has agreed to transfer its registered trademark of “tweet” over to Twitter. The moral of this story is that business owners should be proactive in filing for their trademarks and servicemarks. If they are not, they may find themselves left with no recourse when their unprotected names and phrases have grown in value. If you wait until after the fact to file for trademark and servicemark protection, there will likely be additional litigation that is costly and does not guarantee a favorable result. Furthermore, settlement negotiation will be costly as well, necessitating attorney’s fees and payments to regain control of the mark. The bottom line is that business owners should take steps to protect their interests sooner rather than later.
For any questions regarding protecting your interests through trademarks, servicemarks, patents or copyright, contact the attorneys at Wood, Atter and Wolf, P.A.
