It might be coming back next year.
Hi-Rez Studios may still be working on a Global Agenda game, at least if you’re one of those nerds who watches the US Patent office like I do. Back in 2018 Global Agenda shut down forever. Why? Nobody was playing it. Also the game was corrupted during a server upgrade and couldn’t be recovered.
In 2019 Hi-Rez Studios lost the trademark to Global Agenda due to non-use. For those unaware the US trademark system requires that a company maintain commercial use in order to maintain their trademark. Since Hi-Rez shut down Global Agenda and put the property into non-use, they lost the trademark. After filing a request for an exception, the trademark office ruled that none of Hi-Rez’s excuses were sufficient.
First, the facts recited do not explain why the nonuse with respect to the following services is excusable: providing information online relating to computer games, online computer games, computer game entertainment and amusement activities, and multi-player online computer game cooperation and competitions, publishing of electronic publications.
Second, analogizing to retooling, the facts recited do not sufficiently explain why the corrupted game could not be repaired and why there is no alternative to the alternative to the corrupted code available. In re Conusa Corp., 32 USPQ2d 1857, 1859 (Comm’r Pats. 1993); In re Moorman Manufacturing Company, 203 USPQ 712, 714 (Comm’r Pats. 1979).
What does this mean for the future of Global Agenda? Sit still, baby birds. Having lost the trademark, Hi-Rez Studios immediately set about…registering for a new trademark of Global Agenda. Yes, you can do that. New trademark registration hit off in 2019 and the company is still working at it in 2021.
There isn’t much in the way of information on the game in the trademark filings. HOWEVER, status filings as of 2021 show that a new Global Agenda is still in the process of research and development. During their 2019 application for excused non-use, Hi-Rez Studios stated that they expect to resume commercial use by the end of 2022.
How salacious.
Now Hi-Rez Studios gets five six-month extensions allowed by law from the notice of allowance, which gives them roughly (our estimates) until August 2022 to have some form of commercial use in play. I am not a lawyer.
So is Global Agenda coming back? At least as of February 2021 Hi-Rez Studios still seems to see a future with Global Agenda in it. Enough that they have spent more than the cost of a PlayStation 5 in filing fees to get the trademark back.
Who knows where it goes from here.
MMO Fallout 