• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
  • Hi Guest. We've rebooted and consolidated our Communities section, so be sure to check it out and subscribe to some threads. Thanks!

Blizzard Entertainment's Overwatch trademarks suspended by USPTO

S

Seiniyta

Member
Sep 4, 2014
1,732
0
0
Overwatch will be fine, at the very worst I have the feeling that Activision would just buy up entire company including the name that has the existing Overwatch name XD.
 
D

dave is ok

aztek is ok
Aug 16, 2004
17,420
0
1,390
Kind of glad this happened to them after they forced Valve to rename like 10 things in Dota
 
G

grandjedi6

Master of the Google Search
Feb 22, 2007
37,669
0
0
LDAF said:
Ahh, that makes sense. That's kind of strange, I would assume that Blizzard's attorneys would've seen this coming and rebranded the game before revealing it at Blizzcon. This is only a few months after the revealing.
Click to expand...
Actually, they probably DIDN'T see it coming. While the other Overwatch submitted first, it wasn't posted for opposition until April 15th, two weeks after Blizzard submitted theirs. So they wouldn't have known back then. Blizzard's mistake was never double checking the trademark months later to see if someone had beaten them in that few weeks span (which you'd think would be unlikely but here we are!)

At this point Blizzard might be hoping that the original Overwatch filers don't care enough about it to finish the proper paperwork themselves.
 
Mista

Mista

Dragonslayer
Nov 21, 2014
11,421
15,402
1,260
They should call it Titan then instead of their canned project
 
L

Laconic

Banned
Jul 29, 2013
4,915
0
0
And Now Their Watch is Over.

Oh, wait... I keep forgetting that Blizzard IS the White Walkers, and that D3 didn't actually kill them.
 
C

C.Dark.DN

Banned
Sep 22, 2006
28,323
0
0
grandjedi6 said:
Actually, they probably DIDN'T see it coming. While the other Overwatch submitted first, it wasn't posted for opposition until April 15th, two weeks after Blizzard submitted theirs. So they wouldn't have known back then. Blizzard's mistake was never double checking the trademark months later to see if someone had beaten them in that few weeks span (which you'd think would be unlikely but here we are!)

At this point Blizzard might be hoping that the original Overwatch filers don't care enough about it to finish the proper paperwork themselves.
Click to expand...
This says the filing date was September 5, 2013. Shouldn't Blizzard searched the database and seen that before sending in an application?

And doesn't that April 15th opposition mean Blizzard filed it against them?
 
C

Cipherr

Member
Dec 15, 2007
28,084
0
0
Kansas City Missouri
Meh change the name. Its really not that big of a deal.

After they get through with the displays and advertisements and commercials, whatever name they choose will be fine.
 
D

dave is ok

aztek is ok
Aug 16, 2004
17,420
0
1,390
LurkerPrime said:
Yeah, Defense of the Ancients has always been completely separate from the Warcraft mythos.
This is incorrect.
Click to expand...
Windrunner is a name in WC, I get it. Doombringer, Necrolyte, Centaur Warchief, Obsidian Destroyer, Tuskarr, etc, are not at all important names to Warcraft lore nor is the name DOTA which they also attempted to contest
 
P

PeskyToaster

Member
Dec 5, 2012
10,993
0
455
Texas, USA
dave is ok said:
Windrunner is a name in WC, I get it. Doombringer, Necrolyte, Centaur Warchief, Obsidian Destroyer, Tuskarr, etc, are not at all important names to Warcraft lore nor is the name DOTA which they also attempted to contest
Click to expand...
I dunno, I immediately recognize most of these names from World of Warcraft.
 
Z

Zerokku

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?
Jul 9, 2009
4,177
0
0
PeskyToaster said:
I dunno, I immediately recognize most of these names from World of Warcraft.
Click to expand...
Yeah the only one that doesnt instantly bring up a character/race/whatever to mind for me is the Obsidian Destroyer one.

Suzushiiro said:
Yeah, the most likely outcome here is that Blizzard throws a bunch of money at those guys to get them to change the name.
Click to expand...
Definitely think this is the most likely outcome.
 
L

LurkerPrime

Member
Jan 6, 2014
18,003
1
0
You know, now that I think of it, I actually forgot Overwatch existed for a while there...
dave is ok said:
Windrunner is a name in WC, I get it. Doombringer, Necrolyte, Centaur Warchief, Obsidian Destroyer, Tuskarr, etc, are not at all important names to Warcraft lore nor is the name DOTA which they also attempted to contest
Click to expand...
Lina Inverse
King Leoric (the Skeleton King)
The Ancients
The Scourge
There are (were?) probably more.

Good thing they never called it Defense of the Ancients, because then there'd clearly be a problem.
 
R

Rösti

Unconfirmed Member
C.Dark.DN said:
This says the filing date was September 5, 2013. Shouldn't Blizzard searched the database and seen that before sending in an application?

And doesn't that April 15th opposition mean Blizzard filed it against them?
Click to expand...
Blizzard has as far as I can tell not opposed Innovis Labs. grandjedi6 likely meant that the opposition period began April 15.

On September 5, 2013, Blizzard did however file an extension of time to file a notice of opposition:

Pursuant to 37 C.F.R. Section 2.102, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc., 16215 Alton Parkway, Irvine, CA 92618, UNITED STATES, a corporation organized under the laws of DELAWARE , respectfully requests that it be granted a 30-day extension of time to file a notice of opposition against the above-identified mark .
Click to expand...
Source: http://tsdr.uspto.gov/caseviewer/pdf?caseId=86056160&docIndex=1#docIndex=1

They were granted an extended period of time, but I cannot see they ever filed an opposition.
 
R

radioactivez0r

Member
Jun 24, 2014
1,344
0
0
LDAF said:
Ahh, that makes sense. That's kind of strange, I would assume that Blizzard's attorneys would've seen this coming and rebranded the game before revealing it at Blizzcon. This is only a few months after the revealing.
Click to expand...
Seems like the trademark attorney was the one who screwed up and failed to tell Blizzard there was already a pending trademark for that name in the gaming space, but that's a cursory reasoning from browsing the OP.

I think they should call the game either The Next Great Game from Blizzard or just go full in and call it We Also Made Warcraft Guys
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom