Pssst, Hey There Elon Musk! Twitter Is Coming Back

This is a story about a social media trademark dispute, not an energy-efficiency topic, so it doesn't affect any home upgrade plans or rebate programs. Still, here's what happened: after Elon Musk bought Twitter in 2022 and rebranded it as X, a startup called Operation Bluebird, led by Twitter's former general counsel Stephen Coates, argued that X Corporation had abandoned the "Twitter" trademark by dropping the name and the bird logo. Operation Bluebird petitioned the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to cancel X's trademarks so it could relaunch a new platform called Twitter Now.

X fought back in court, but in April a federal judge in Delaware indicated from the bench that X may have given up its rights to "tweet," the bird logo, and possibly the Twitter name itself. No formal written ruling has been issued, so the trademark question remains unsettled. Despite that, Coates announced last week that Twitter Now had launched, describing it as a new platform built around trust and transparency rather than an algorithm-driven feed. As of this writing, the site was showing a maintenance message, though a related site was still collecting signups from people interested in early access.

None of this has any bearing on home energy upgrades, rebates, or equipment. It's simply a legal and tech industry dispute over who gets to use the Twitter name.