A federal court in Delaware has ruled on a trademark fight between Elon Musk’s X and a startup trying to launch a rival social network. Operation Bluebird, originally launched under the name Twitter.now, was barred from using that name, but was allowed to use 'tweet' and the Twitter bird logo, which X had likely abandoned since its rebrand.

The Virginia-based startup has since rebranded as Tweet.app, using the freed-up 'tweet' name. Co-founders Michael Peroff and Stephen Coates, both lawyers with experience at Twitter, are seen as dubious in their intentions of building a new social network, rather than simply acquiring Twitter’s trademarks.

The court's decision is not final, with the case set to determine whether X ultimately still retains rights to any of the Twitter marks. Coates, who is president of Operation Bluebird, wrote in an email to TechCrunch that 'they kept the word. They let go of the bird, and they let go of the tweet.' He argued that the public's continued use of the term 'tweet' shows its rightful ownership.

Despite the legal complexities, Tweet.app has garnered significant interest, with over 172,000 people requesting a handle on the site before launch. The company is charging users $20 to reserve their handle and join the social network, which likely helps cover its legal bills.