Twitter is apparently “uncomfortable” with third-party developers using the word Tweet in their user interfaces, but how uncomfortable?

TechCrunch reported on an exchange between one third-party developer and an application-program-interface team member for Twitter, which was then followed up by a response from Twitter co-founder Biz Stone.

However, even after all of the back-and-forth, it still remains unclear whether the use of Tweet is taboo, or just how taboo it is.

Further confusing matters, Twitter applied to the U.S. Patent Office for a trademark for “Tweet” April 14, but that application has not been approved yet.

Twitter API team member to third-party developer (from TechCrunch):

Twitter Inc. is uncomfortable with the use of the word Tweet (our trademark) and the similarity in your UI and our own. How can we go about having you change your UI to better differentiate your offering from our own?

Third-party developer to Twitter API team member:

First of all, I had no idea that the word “tweet” was trademarked by Twitter, and after browsing its terms of service and API documentation, I couldn’t find any reference on their Website about this either.

Second, I’m assuming that the note about the company being “uncomfortable” with the use of the term was in reference to the combination of that with the closely resembling UI of the Web application. If I’m wrong and this signals that Twitter wants to move forward with actively barring third-party apps from using the word “tweet” in their names in the same way that it refrains them from using the word “Twitter,” then this could have consequences for a plethora of developers.

Should TweetDeck, TweetMeme, Tweetie, BackTweets, Tweetboard, etc. start worrying?

Stone’s response:

The ecosystem growing around Twitter is something we very much believe in nourishing and supporting. As part of this support, we encourage developers of new applications and services built using Twitter APIs to invent original branding for their projects rather than use our marks, logos, or look and feel. This approach leaves room for applications to evolve as they grow and it avoids potential confusion down the line.

As we build our platform team, we will be adding more guidelines and best practices to help developers get the most out of our growing set of open APIs. We have healthy relationships with existing developers who sometimes include Twitter logos, marks, or look and feel in their applications and services. We’ll continue to work together in a fair and flexible way to ensure success for Twitter, developers, and everyone who uses these services.