Trademarks

Following confirmation that Level 5's striking RPG Ni No Kuni will be released in the west early next year comes what appears to be its western name: Wrath Of The White Witch. More >

Sega applied on Monday for a European trademark, Yakuza: Dead Souls. While several games in the Yakuza series are yet to head west - PS3's Kenzan, which was set in the 16th century, and PSP title Black Panther - the name points strongly to a western localisation of zombie spin-off Yakuza: Of The End. More >

Bethesda Softworks and Mojang will settle their trademark dispute in court, Markus Persson, head of the Minecraft studio, has revealed. More >

In July it was noticed that the domain modernwarfare3.com redirected to EA's Battlefield website. Activision sought to gain control of the domain, and a three-person panel at the US National Arbitration Forum has ruled in its favour. According to Fusible, the previous owner of the URL Anthony Abraham had argued that the phrase "modern warfare" was generic, but Activision satisfied three essential criteria: that the domain was identical or "confusingly similar" to its trademark; that Abraham had no legitimate interests in owning the domain; and that it had been registered and was being used in bad faith.

Full of joie de vivre following his recent nuptials, Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson has suggested his Mojang studio and Bethesda settle their legal differences in the most unusual of fashions. Earlier this month, Bethesda's lawyers wrote to Mojang demanding that it not name its next game Scrolls, arguing that it infringes its Elder Scrolls trademark. "I challenge Bethesda to a game of Quake 3," Persson writes on his blog. "Three of our best warriors against three of your best warriors. If we win, you drop the lawsuit. If you win, we will change the name of Scrolls to something you're fine with. I am serious, by the way."

The Minecraft developer's next project, the digital card and board game Scrolls, was revealed at GDC over five months ago. Evidently Bethesda's lawyers have only just cottoned on: Mojang head Markus "Notch" Persson revealed on Twitter that he has received a letter telling him the name infringes on Bethesda's Elder Scrolls trademark and that consumers will confuse it with the upcoming Skyrim. In a subsequent tweet, Notch said: "I still love Bethesda. This is hopefully just lawyers being lawyers."

MMO Champion spotted Blizzard's filing last week with the US Patent and Trademark Office for "Mists Of Pandaria", which covers "computer game software". It's all speculation at this point, but it appears that this will be the fourth World Of Warcraft expansion. A document containing Blizzard's five-year release schedule, leaked last December, showed the firm was planning two further WOW expansions: one in Q2 2012, and the fifth in Q4 2013.

Released on Xbox Live Arcade in the US two weeks ago, Double Fine's spin on the tower defence genre is yet to launch in the UK due to a trademark held by a Portuguese board game designer. "This entire process has been very frustrating to us," project lead Brad Muir told Destructoid. " Microsoft owns the IP for Trenched and [is] working to resolve things as quickly as possible. I wish there were more information to give but it's still unclear as to how things will shake out. The one thing I do know is that the game will be released in those territories."

Rui Alipio Monteiro, the Portuguese whose First World War-themed board game Trench was revealed last month to be the reason for the European delay of Double Fine's XBLA title Trenched, appears ready to fight publisher Microsoft every step of the way. Explaining that his trademark covers electronic games as well - and claiming that one is already in development - he said in a statement: "[Microsoft], until the present date, has never contacted nor has any relation with Rui Alipio Monteiro. [Portuguese firm] Criações a Solo and Rui Alipio Monteiro, taking into account all investment already made, cannot do anything but obviously defend all their author's copyright and intellectual property against any infringements, as any designer would."

The Rock Band developer has trademarked "Vidrhythm", and communications director John Drake has confirmed to Giant Bomb that a project bearing the name is indeed under development. Drake refused to elaborate any further, merely saying: "It will be awesome."

The planned European release last week of Double Fine’s XBLA tower defence title was delayed due to “unexpected challenges with distribution”. It now appears that the game is in violation of a trademark held by Rui Alipio Monteiro, a Portuguese board game designer who in 2007 registered the trademark for Trench, a strategy board game set during the First World War. Monteiro confirmed to Eurogamer Portugal that he holds the trademark, but otherwise had “nothing to declare.” Double Fine must now reach a settlement with Monteiro to allow the studio the use of the name, or change the game’s title altogether.

Application to the Trade Marks And Designs Registration Office of the EU matches the rumours of what Sony's forthcoming handheld, currently codenamed NGP, will be called.