Banner Saga being sued for using the word Saga in it's name

[jcenterprises]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=755651

Looks like Universal Wars will be reverting back to its old name in light of this.

[Bob the Hamster]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=755651

Looks like Universal Wars will be reverting back to its old name in light of this.

It looks like trademark bullying tactics. They are very unlikely to win such a lawsuit (IANAL but I am guessing around 0% chance) so they will only send letters like this to game-makers who don't have enough money to fight in court.

Again, IANAL, but I suggest that you don't bother changing the name of your game unless they actually send a letter to you specifically.

I actually trademark-related cease-and-desist myself once. It wasn't nearly as nastily worded as this "Notice Of Opposition" but the idea was the same.

This game http://hamsterrepublic.com/js/pliphunt/ used to be named "Whack-A-Plip" and after it had been online for a year or two, I got a threatening letter from the owners of the "Whac-A-Mole" arcade game.

I changed the name of my game to "Plip Hunt" and they could not do anything more, and they promptly left me alone (never heard from them again)

[jcenterprises]

That's okay, I wanted to call it just Universal Wars all along, I just added the word Saga because ironically I thought it might make the game more lawsuit proof due to a few similarly named games and other works/products, as well as a trademark. The name has already been updated on Castle Paradox as well as some copyright information. (Still can't get it on Slime Salad because it doesn't like the zip for some reason.) But if the old name gets challenged, I'm gonna have to come up with a completely different crazy new name for this game.

[Gizmog]

You're super unlikely to be challenged, and it's not trademark bullying so much as it is trademark defense. James is right, it's unlikely to stand up but they HAVE to file charges now and then or else when someone comes up with a pop-artist dating sim called Romancing GaGa, the makers behind that weirdness could use the legal defense of "You let THOSE guys use Saga, so why not us?". It doesn't work on your parents, but it works on the Federal Trademark circuit.

And whoa, I just read the post and holy slime it's the CANDY CRUSH SAGA guys going after slime? I thought for sure it'd Squenix! That's rough, but I guess the principle still holds. Presumably the courts won't uphold this and will limit their protection to "____ Crush Saga" but you never can tell! Trademark law is sliming weeeeeeeird!

[Meowskivich]

You're super unlikely to be challenged, and it's not trademark bullying so much as it is trademark defense. James is right, it's unlikely to stand up but they HAVE to file charges now and then or else when someone comes up with a pop-artist dating sim called Romancing GaGa, the makers behind that weirdness could use the legal defense of "You let THOSE guys use Saga, so why not us?". It doesn't work on your parents, but it works on the Federal Trademark circuit.

And whoa, I just read the post and holy slime it's the CANDY CRUSH SAGA guys going after slime? I thought for sure it'd Squenix! That's rough, but I guess the principle still holds. Presumably the courts won't uphold this and will limit their protection to "____ Crush Saga" but you never can tell! Trademark law is sliming weeeeeeeird!

ladies n' gents, may I present... http://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged-in ... 24320.html

[Chronoboy]

Did you hear about the one with the company who made Candy Crush trademarking the word Candy?

http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=85842 ... atusSearch

[TMC]

Actually, that trademark is for "CANDY", which is a big difference. However I'm rather shocked that the trademark was granted not just for cell phone games or whatever CCS is, but for everything from magnetic disks to keyboards to baby monitors. That's not how trademark law is meant to work: the more generic the mark, the narrower its area of application should be.

If a lawyer ever contacted me over anything absurd as that, I would attempt to draw out the process for as long as possible to cause them to charge their client more billable hours.

[Mogri]

It's a publicity stunt.

[Bob the Hamster]

It's a publicity stunt.

Of the "No such thing as bad publicity" variety? ;)

[Mogri]

Presumably. They had to know they weren't going to win.

To clarify, though, King is not suing Stoic for using "Saga" in their game's name. King is suing Stoic for attempting to trademark a game with "Saga" in its name.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/2089 ... _Candy.php

[TMC]

My mistake, all the trademarks in that database are capitalised, though I would expect it falls under "font style", meaning some trademarks could apply to a particular capitalisation.