The second time this title has had trademark problems.
Immortals Fenyx Rising is a fun game. If you recall back to the prehistoric era of 2020 you may know that Immortals used to be called Gods & Monsters. Gods & Monsters was struck as a name due to legal opposition by another company when Ubisoft registered the trademark. That company? Monster Energy. No, I’m not kidding. Ubisoft couldn’t have a game called Gods & Monsters because of legal opposition filed by Monster Energy drinks. The trademark system is stupid like that sometimes.
So we got Immortals Fenyx Rising, and because Ubisoft had to file that one on short notice the game has been out for some time while the trademark process has lagged behind. The Immortals: Fenyx Rising name is also under dispute and according to USPTO records last month the office emailed a final notice of refusal to Ubisoft.
No bueno, probably not world ending. This time around the dispute is centered around a gambling casino game called Phoenix Rising. If you look at the response from the patent office, they seem unconvinced of a distinction between casino games and video games. There’s some sort of social commentary one could get out of that statement.
The applicant’s argument regarding Registration No. 5765508 for the mark FIRE PHOENIX RISING is not well taken. That mark covers computer game software for operating gaming machines. This is slightly different from the service of providing online games. In this case, the services of the registrant and the applicant are identical, since both provide online games and online non-downloadable games. The impression created is of a series of “phoenix rising” products of which the applicant’s mark is one.
For one reason or another, the trademark office was also unconvinced of Ubisoft’s rebuttal that the office had already approved another casino game called ‘Fire Phoenix Rising’ as distinct, yet ‘Immortals: Fenyx Rising’ is somehow too close to the ‘Phoenix Rising’ name.
Ubisoft has until November to file their response, which seems to invalidate the whole “final refusal” part. We’ll have to see how this goes.
MMO Fallout 