Legal battles in the world of video games are legion, and one of them is particularly surprising, as it may seem quite absurd at first glance.
A logo can make all the difference, and in the world of video games as elsewhere, we know to what extent a simple drawing or a font can have capital importance. A logo represents a brand, an idea, sometimes even an entire concept. Take-Two, which owns Rockstar, is well aware of this, and the publisher behind the future GTA 6 seems to be taking legal action against a development studio that it accuses of copying a logo belonging to it. Here are the explanations.
Take Two: the Rockstar logo at the heart of the problem
So, as reported by the respawnfirst site, Remedy Entertainment is facing Take Two Interactive over a contentious logo design. Take Two argues that Remedy’s logo bears a worrying resemblance to Rockstar Games’ iconic R. Just that. If one might think that the case arises just after the very big success of Alan Wake 2, let us nevertheless point out that this legal problem probably dates back to May 2023, that is to say many months before the release of the horror game from the Finnish studio.
According to data from the United Kingdom, as of September 2023, the trademark is still contested. The grounds for opposition are based on Article 8(1)(b) of the European Union Trade Mark Regulation (EUTMR), citing a likelihood of confusion among the public.
In fact, this problematic logo is the same one that Remedy Entertainment revealed to the world in April 2023. At the time, Remedy Entertainment introduced the logo by stating: ” The bullet in the letter R of the old logo represented the Max Payne era, but today’s Remedy is much more than just one game; we have an entire portfolio of games, new and old. » Ironically (or not), Rockstar and Max Payne are closely linked, because although the rights belong to Remedy, the studio behind GTA developed the third episode.
The great importance of a logo
For Take Two, this situation is not new. They have already demonstrated their rigor in terms of intellectual property protection. For example, last year they waged a legal fight against Hazelight Studios over the name of their famous game, It Takes Two.
To get away from the video game world a little, but in the same spirit, we remember for example the Lacoste affair against Crocodile International, a company based in Singapore. Both companies use a crocodile logo, and Lacoste has filed several lawsuits to protect its brand. Another textbook case, in 2009, Apple challenged a new logo used by Australian supermarket chain Woolworths, arguing that the logo, which resembled a stylized apple peel, was too similar to its own logo.
