• Los Angeles Times, Thursday, July 2, 2009 2:45 PM

Twitter has applied with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to trademark the word "tweet." The L.A. Times' David Sarno notes that this raises the "perennially tricky question of whether a company can own the rights to a word that has so penetrated the English lexicon that, some argue, trying to own it is like trying to own the ocean or the atmosphere." Because that's what happens when a trademark is "genericized," Sarno says-just think of Xerox, Kleenex or Google. All of these names became synonymous with their products. However, ironically, their legal claim to the word that bears their name "becomes increasingly slippery as the word burrows into the vernacular."

Twitter's trademark application is accessible at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office site. The request was filed in April, but like all other applications, it will have to wait four to six months before a trademark examiner in the patent office evaluates it.

What does this mean for the many Twitter applications that use "Tweet" in their names? In a blog post, company cofounder Biz Stone explains that they have nothing to worry about: "We have applied to trademark Tweet because it is clearly attached to Twitter from a brand perspective," Stone wrote. "But we have no intention of 'going after' the wonderful applications and services that use the word in their name when associated with Twitter."

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