Twitter has been in the news recently for its efforts to protect the term “tweet” as a trademark in the face of uses of the word by a number of companies offering complementary services in the Twitter ecosystem. Earlier this fall, Twitter filed, and then quickly settled, a lawsuit against Twittad, a company that enlists Twitter users to participate in advertising campaigns for pay. Twittad had registered the phrase “let your ad meet tweets” with the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) as an identifier for its advertising-related services, and Twitter sought to cancel the registration. Although this particular dispute has been resolved, the broader game of catch-up that Twitter was forced to play with respect to its rights in “tweet” can serve as a lesson for other companies.
Twitter launched its service in 2006, offering users a platform for posting up to 140-character updates or comments to be read by online followers. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the term “tweet” has been used since at least 2007 as “the word for what one does” on Twitter. Twitter first filed to register its trademark in the name Twitter in 2007. When it came to registering “tweet,” however, Twitter was a bit late to the party.
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