Ask HN: Help) Twitter Account/Trademark
In short, this year I became the owner of a (once famous) trademark. The Twitter account matching the trademark is suspended/not in use. My goal is to obtain the Twitter account that matches my TM for obvious branding purposes and to generally protect the goodwill of the TM.
Twitter has an online process to report alleged TM infringement and request the account. I used the same without success, the Twitter response was that the account was suspended, thus not infringing, and otherwise declined to give me to have the suspended account/handle. In my opinion, while not classic TM infringement, a suspended Twitter account does in fact cause the same type of damages to the goodwill of my TM and brand as that of ordinary TM infringement. Moreover, it seems reasonable that the public would likely think that the TM holder (me) violated Twitter’s TOS/engaged in suspicious activity resulting in a suspension, and that perception naturally causes harm to the goodwill of my mark/brand.
I have an obvious bias as the TM holder, but my opinion is they should give me the handle that matches my TM. The account is suspended anyway, it has been for years, thus there is no harm or loss anyone else by giving the TM holder the account/handle.
Ultimately I think this amounts to a customer service issue, but one that needs a little public support to get any attention. I have no expectations randomly posting to HN asking for help, but I’ve seen it move mountains in the past.