San Francisco — It might seem rather bizarre that the popular micro-blogging site Twitter does not yet own the the trademark “tweet” or “Tweet”. The word is a registered trademark of a company called Twittad. And now, the company’s endless quest to secure the trademark to the word “tweet” appears to be at an end, as it has settled a lawsuit that will furnish the company control over the “tweet” trademark, according to a new report.
Twitter does not currently own the trademark to the term. Apparently, the word is a registered trademark of a Des Moines-based Twittad, a provider of sponsored advertising on Twitter, where they claim to be “the largest and most effective form of sponsored advertising on Twitter,” with a tagline, “Let your ad meet tweets.”
It also has trademarked various variations of the word “tweet,” for its company a few years ago, and hence secured the registration due to the fact that no one objected it.
Not until last month, when Twitter filed a lawsuit against Twittad in hope that this would compel the company to cancel its trademark. Twitter also went to the extent of suspending Twittad’s twitter account, which strangely enough appears to currently be lifeless. Irrespective, Twittad and its chief executive James Eliason stood firm on their position, claiming that “Twitter’s users came up with “tweet,” the word is fair game.”
Today however, Eliason informed the WSJ that the two companies have settled their differences though. And as part of the settlement, Twitter will drop a lawsuit and in return, Twittad would transfer its registered trademark of “tweet” to Twitter.
Twitter has reportedly also recognized the settlement by issuing a statement saying:
“We have reached 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.
On the contrary, Twitter believes “It is in the best interests of our users and developers for the meaning of the word “Tweet” to be preserved to prevent any confusion, so we are taking action to protect its meaning.”
Neither company disclosed whether any funds have been exchanged hands as part of the settlement, though we would be surprised if Twitter did not have to part with a hefty amount of cash to secure the trademark.