Did you know that as of right now, Twitter doesn’t have the trademark for the word “tweet?”
That’s all about to change, however, as the social media service is about to secure the trademark from its current owner – Twittad.
Twittad is a company that users a network of thousands of Twitter users to tweet out advertisements from other companies – twitter ad middlemen in short. They operate under the slogan “Let Your Ad Meet Tweets.” A couple of years ago, they trademarked that phrase.
Twitter originally filed to trademark “tweet” back in 2009, but that request was rejected by the U.S. Patent and Trademark office due to similar trademarks that were pending – tweetmarks, cotweet and tweetphoto. Unable to bring their own attempts to secure a trademark to fruition, Twitter went after Twittad.
Last month, Twitter filed a lawsuit against Twittad. They claimed that the word “tweet” had already been made famous by Twitter, way before Twittad filed the trademark for their phrase – therefore Twitter was the rightful owner of “tweet.”
According to the WSJ, Twittad and Twitter have come to an agreement that would transfer the trademark for “tweet” to Twitter, and see the lawsuit against Twittad dropped.
“We’ve arrived at a resolution with Twittad that recognizes consistent use of Tweet while supporting the continued success of Twitter ecosystem partners like Twittad,” Twitter spokeswoman Lynn Fox said in a statement.
There’s no confirmation of any other incentive, such as a payment from Twitter to Twittad – but Twitter will reinstate Twittad’s Twitter account, which it had suspended.
[Image Courtesy born1945 on Flickr]