Twitter aims to take ownership of tweets

by Elizabeth Clifford-Marsh, revolutionmagazine.com 03-Jul-09, 13:12

LONDON - Twitter has begun making moves to trademark terms associated with its service, to avoid potential confusion with third-party apps.

Biz Stone, Twitter co-founder said as developers continue to create apps that utilise Twitter, ‘potentially damaging' projects could emerge.

Although Twitter has applied to trademark 'tweet', Stone said there are no plans to sue successful apps already using the term, such as TweetDeck, Tweetboard and Tweetie.

Writing on the company blog, Stone said he will continue to encourage use of the word tweet in related apps, but holding the trademark will give Twitter the power to protect its brand from association with inappropriate content.

"We encourage the use of the word tweet. However, if we come across a confusing or damaging project, the recourse to act responsibly to protect both users and our brand is important," he said.

Apps that use the word Twitter are less welcome and developers are encouraged to choose a different name to avoid potential confusion, said Stone.

According to TwitStat, TweetDeck is the second most popular Twitter client, used by 14 per cent of Twitter users

Twitter had more than 32m unique visits in April, excluding figures from third-party clients, such as mobile phones or desktop apps, according to comScore.

In May Twitter had close to 12 million registered users.