Yes. This a trademark application filed on October 30 for the term “subtweet.”
Twitter has filed a trademark for the term "subtweet." pic.twitter.com/ivE9hLDm2R
— Alex Weprin (@alexweprin) December 4, 2015
If you’re not sure what a subtweet is, then well…I’m not sure I can help you all that much. Basically, when someone talks trash about someone on Twitter without mentioning their name, it’s a subtweet.
I’m sure that this trademark is helping to make Twitter easier to use every week like the company promised.
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In case you were wondering, Twitter has fought over the use of the phrase “tweet” in the past, which doesn’t look to have a complete trademark itself. That application sits in this purgatory-of-a-status “REPORT COMPLETED SUSPENSION CHECK – CASE STILL SUSPENDED”.
We’ve reached out to Twitter for comment and will update once we hear back.
UPDATE: A Twitter spokesperson provided us with the following statement:
When you need to protect your namespace from people who would misuse it. #keepingit💯
