Since 2008, I have been battling with Twitter over the @WarrenKnight handle, and today I am happy to announce that I have resigned @WVRKnight, to take on my well fought for @WarrenKnight. It took nearly 7, long years and it wasn’t easy.

Have you seen a Twitter handle of your name, being occupied by another user who is not active? If so, you are (after following the below important steps) entitled to contact Twitter, appeal to their good nature and take your rightful Twitter handle. Here is how I did it.

There are services like TweetClaims and TwitterCounter that can notify you when the Twitter handle you want, becomes available from Twitter (see their inactive account policy) however, you are going to be waiting a long time. The account I wanted, hadn’t tweeted since 2009 and until yesterday evening, it still wasn’t deemed inactive.

After backwards and forwards with Twitter over the last few years, I finally decided to go down a more official route, and get my name Trademarked.

Trademarks are essentially limited patent over the use of symbols in business. The government grants trademark owners the right to exclude all other businesses or individuals from using a similar mark on related goods or services. For instance, nobody in the computer industry is allowed to use the name “apple” as a way of identifying themselves, except for Apple Computers, Inc. I knew doing this for my name, would mean that no one would be able to use it officially on social media, or in Class 35 and Class 41 in The Trade Mark Act 1994.

After I got the green light on the trademark being finalised (this is a process in itself as I had to wait for two months to see if anyone would appeal this trademark application). I went straight to Twitter, with my documentation in hand, demanding my rightful Twitter handle.

I used this link here to start the process with Twitter. I filled out all of the information, along with my trademark information, as well as sending a copy of my trademark certificate to Twitter via email.

It took them about 7 days to get back to me, to which they said the account in question was inactive, and that my trademarking had proved that without my permission, another user is unable to use my name. This was then followed by a quick transfer, from @WVRKnight to @WarrenKnight in the space of two hours.

Screen Shot 2015-08-26 at 09.08.18

After 7 years, Twitter have finally giving me what I wanted. If you’re in the same position as me, follow my route and trademark your name/company and you should get the same outcome as me.

My next mission: A shiny, blue verified tick next to my name. Coming soon!

Ready to produce game-changing digital results in your business?

Subscribe to receive cutting edge insights on digital leadership and transformation- straight to your inbox

We do not sell or share your information with anyone.

Share This Story, Choose Your Platform!

Leave A Comment