Now what? A Twitter land rush?
Trademark Twitter identities are being snapped up.
Some companies such as Billabong have been quick off the mark, snapping up names. Billabong spokesman John Mossop said: "Billabong has a strong online presence and that includes three official Twitter addresses â€" billabonggirls, BBgirls and billabong1973. It would appear none of the other Billabong addresses are ours so we're making inquiry into their ownership."
Others, such as Coca-Cola, have been forced to make do with less than satisfactory monikers, such as CocaColaCo. But in something of a first the company has complained directly to Twitter about squatting on its trademark and succeeded in getting the CocaCola identity handed back.
Yesterday a Coca-Cola spokesman reported: "We are now officially in possession of the 'coca-cola' account, as Twitter acknowledged the name as a registered trademark of The Coca-Cola Company. Clearly Coca-Cola sees the value of Twitter as a way of it having 'real-time' conversations with our fans and followers, primarily around our shared passions for sports, music and online activities."
http://business.theage.com.au/business/squatters-creating-twittering-confusion-20090429-andk.html