“I think I’ll wait until my business is bigger and profitable until I register my trademark.”
Despite Twitter using the word TWEET since its first post in 2006, it never got around to registering its trademark until 2009, years later and only after it was vastly popular.
Twitter Inc., owner of the micro-blogging site Twitter, filed for a trademark application in the US for the word TWEET in 2009 but the US Registrar of Trademarks denied the application, stating that it was confusingly similar to an existing trademark, LET YOUR AD MEET TWEETS, owned by Twittad, an advertising company. Twittad didn’t wait until it was bigger to trademark its rights.
Twitter could have challenged the registration of Twittad’s trademark on the basis that Twitter had used the term first, but such a challenge could have been a lengthy and expensive process. Twitter Inc. now owns Twittad’s trademark. It is unknown what Twitter paid to purchase it.
…and that’s the importance of being first. Contact me today to be the first to register your trademark.