Claiming a Twitter username that’s already been taken

We just got our @testlio twitter account which was previously owned by someone else. Due to a couple of requests to describe how we got it, below is a simple process to follow.

When we launched Testlio two months ago, the obvious choice for our twitter name was @testlio, but it was taken and we had to settle with some "awesome" combination of words. We ended up with @testliorocks which rocks but not as much as @testlio.

A month passed and I really didn't like that we couldn't use our own name for Twitter username. So I decided to do something about it and who knows maybe you are in a same position now and could use some insights. Here goes:

1. Make sure the account is inactive.
   Check that there are no tweets or have been for a while. Twitter suggests you login at least once in six months. For @testlio there were no tweets at all but I wanted to be sure it's not a recently created account and found this tool wich showed me that it was created over 2 years ago.
   
   
2. Make sure you have a .com domain or active trademark for that name.
   The process should go smoothly if you own a .com domain for the twitter name you want to claim. It goes even faster with an active trademark to put on the table which was the case with my friend Val with @Blacklist handle.
   
   
3. Submit an impersonation claim to Twitter.
   You can do that here. As this form has lot of different choices, here are the steps to take:
   1. What is your issue?
      I am being impersonated.
   2. How can we help?
      A user is pretending to be or represent my company, brand, or organization.
      Second option: I am an authorized representative of the company, brand, or organization.
   3. Do you have an active trademark?
      No, in our case.
   You should now see a form which is self-explanatory, fill it using an email which has a domain name matching the twitter name you are after.

That's it!

You will receive an immediate email confirmation and the next one in about 3 weeks hopefully saying that your desired twitter account is indeed inactive. They ask you to reply to that email with your current account and desired account name for confirmation. 4 days after that the account was ours. Oh and they just renamed @testliorocks to @testlio which means everything besides the name stayed the same.

Follow us on Twitter now: http://twitter.com/testlio

By Marko Kruustuk
Testlio Co-Founder
@markokruustuk