"Trademark: We reserve the right to reclaim user names on behalf of businesses or individuals that hold legal claim or trademark on those user names. Accounts using business names and/or logos to mislead others will be permanently suspended."
How they handled it might have sucked, but it was fairly clear what they would end up doing in situations like this.
except that Twitter has a global namespace, and trademarks are what, national?
Say, as an example, I own Tim's Bike Shop in Australia, and have @timsbikeshop on Twitter. What happens if there's a US Tim's Bike Shop that decides it wants that Twitter id? To me, both have the same 'right' (I use quotes because it's obviously not a right) to the id, but I win because I was in first. Does Twitter assume because the second claimant is legit the first is not?
"Trademark: We reserve the right to reclaim user names on behalf of businesses or individuals that hold legal claim or trademark on those user names. Accounts using business names and/or logos to mislead others will be permanently suspended."
How they handled it might have sucked, but it was fairly clear what they would end up doing in situations like this.