USPTO Suspends The War Z Trademark

[Andy Chalk]

USPTO Suspends The War Z Trademark

The U. S. Patent and Trademark Office suspended The War Z trademark more than a month before it launched on Steam.

It seems like one thing after another for The War Z, the zombie apocalypse MMO that launched on December 17 and then just days later was suspended [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/121178-Update-A-Rocky-Start-For-The-War-Z] amidst allegations of false advertising and misleading statements from the developer. But the latest bit of bad news actually came more than a month ago, on November 15, when the USPTO suspended the trademark.

The suspension came not because of the rough state of the game but because it was too close to Paramount Pictures' filings related to the upcoming GamesIndustry [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0816711/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1], Paramount has also held other World War Z-related trademarks since August 2011.

Why would Hammerpoint go through with the Steam release of the game when it knew, a full month ago, that it would not be able to legally use title? In a post on The War Z forums [http://forums.thewarz.com/showthread.php?83274-Sad-trademark-suspension-direct-proof&p=1286542&viewfull=1#post1286542], Executive Producer Sergey Titov actually denied that the trademark had been suspended, calling the claim "ridiculous" and a lie and providing a link to what he said is the "real trademark," although it leads to an "expired search session" error message. "This is as stupid as saying that Colorado map is only 3x3 km," he added.

Whatever the reason, one anonymous observer, who may or may not be the only other guy in The Escapist newsroom today, described the situation as "pretty damn shady."

Source: U.S. Patent and Trade Office [http://tsdr.uspto.gov/documentviewer?caseId=sn85682663&docId=SUL20121115122102]


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[Eri]

I would sure love to get my hands on some of whatever the devs are smoking, because surely, it must be amazing stuff.

 

[SadisticFire]

I don't...understand. Are these guys trying to pull of a stunt to get attention? I can't think of any other reason other then "Look at us!"
Which they seem to be doing well if they are..

 

[Rednog]

Titov is either absolutely out of his mind or just trolling at this point, every interview he just spouts more and more asinine drivel. He honestly just can't be serious anymore and is just at the point where he's trying to squeeze every penny he can before his game crashes into a horrible wreck.

 

[Absolutionis]

Again, this War Z was made by the same guy that made almost unarguably the worst game of all time: Big Rigs, and he was/is planning on making a sequel.

I'm sure negative attention isn't a big deal for the developer.

 

[dragongit]

So not only did they lie about things that were not in the game, which is already a violation of the law, they have outright violated trademark laws by publishing without proper licensing. It just keeps getting better and better for them. If this keeps up they will have to shut down completely, but not before a ton of people have been fooled into dishing out cash.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

Oh, Titov. Shine on, you crazy diamond! Shine on, and we'll watch you glimmer and blaze into a brilliant coruscation of blinding fail as you crash into the lofty oceans of the hard facts of life.

Such as the fact that liars, cheats and lazy cash-grabbing bums don't always get their day.

 

[Vault boy Eddie]

The hell is wrong with these people?!?!

 

[Abomination]

It looks like the old Iraq minister of Propaganda got a job as a game developer.

"As you can see the map behind me is clearly hundreds of kilometres long and wide." And a intern on the other side of it leans upon said "background" which is a really a wooden backdrop, revealing them to be in an old abandoned warehouse as it tumbles to the floor with a bullshit dispelling "thud".

 

[AldUK]

The more I learn about this debacle the more entertained I am. They should make a comedy-disaster movie about this.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Its so funny. If anyone here was on the Steam forums they would've seen the buyer's remorse threads that were popping up when this scam was released.

"What's with all the hate?"

"Show me proof that this game is a scam."

Now look at it. This game was a scam job, it can no longer be denied.

 

[Deathfish15]

So not only did they lie about things that were not in the game, which is already a violation of the law, they have outright violated trademark laws by publishing without proper licensing. It just keeps getting better and better for them. If this keeps up they will have to shut down completely, but not before a ton of people have been fooled into dishing out cash.

I don't think it's publishing without a license. This is more to do with the trademark/copyrights to the title name "The War Z", basically it means that they don't own rights to that name because their pending filing was suspended. And, most of the time it comes to a "lawsuit" thing more than an "against the law" thing. However, with this in light, I would certainly think that Paramount would sue or at the very least get a court ordered "Cease and desist" order on it.

 

[The Random One]

I don't...understand. Are these guys trying to pull of a stunt to get attention? I can't think of any other reason other then "Look at us!"
Which they seem to be doing well if they are..

I don't know how you can fail to find their reason to do it.
They repurposed a game they already had, as quickly as possible, so they could a) trick people who thought it was the DayZ standalone into buying it and b) have people who knew it wasn't the standalone but who thought it might be close enough buy it.
Having the WarZ name was important for them because it sounded enough like DayZ that it could trick people (since DayZ is based on a war simulator). I'm sure an airheaded marketing person also suggested they kept the 'war' part of their failed F2P War Inc. which was repupurposed into WarZ, to retain any fans they already had.
After that, the game is already out, so simply deny everything wrong sent out your way. The accusations are correct, so there's no point in denying them; denying them makes it look like it's their word against the reporters', even though the reporters have provided proof they haven't countered.
They already released the game on Steam; it already was on the best sellers list; many people will likely not have had the gumption to cancel their purchase, or even know it was possible to do so. Obviously they'd have preferred to keep all of the money but their gambit has been successful enough.

 

[Aeryn Seoung]

If this debacle isn't enough for people to stay the hell away from Hammerpoint, they clearly haven't nose-dived into concrete hard enough.

 

[Bindal]

If this debacle isn't enough for people to stay the hell away from Hammerpoint, they clearly haven't nose-dived into concrete hard enough.

Well, there are in fact people, who still defend the game. Not sure if I should laugh or cry...

 

[MisterShine]

Whatever the reason, one anonymous observer, who may or may not be the only other guy in The Escapist newsroom today, described the situation as "pretty damn shady."

Source: U.S. Patent and Trade Office [http://tsdr.uspto.gov/documentviewer?caseId=sn85682663&docId=SUL20121115122102]

lol...

go home guys