Hazelight Studios, the makers of games like Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, and A Way Out has been dealing with a trademark dispute filed by game publisher Take-Two over the name of this year's co-op hit It Takes Two.
The trademark dispute has been uncovered by the folks at Eurogamer, who also found that Take-Two has been swinging the dispute bat at numerous media makers naming their products after words that are close to Take-Two's trademarks. Hazelight Studios has apparently opted to abandon the trademark for its own game rather than go toe-to-toe with Take-Two.
Hazelight told Eurogamer in a statement that it is "hoping [the dispute] will be resolved."
Eurogamer's prying into Take-Two's trademark bonanza has revealed the publisher is swinging at anyone trying to trademark names that include phrases like "rockstar" "social club" "civilization" and "mafia."
These include a Beijing-based company's trademark of "Starrocks," tattoo parlours and restaurants trying to use "rockstar" in their names, a live performance industry book called "Think Like A Rockstar," and a Florida axe-throwing business called "Rockstar Axe Throwing."
Trademark law is a messy affair partly built on the notion that trademark owners must be actively defending their desired trademarks. Given Take-Two's legal resources, the company probably views it as being less of a liability to overcorrect on trademark defense than undercorrect, particularly where other video game brands are concerned.
While it's frustrating to see a billion-dollar publisher pick on a much smaller company, said smaller company did publish their game with EA. It's a closer overlap than Rockstar Axe Throwing, that's for sure.
Still, with "Take-Two" being a company name, and "It Takes Two" being a game name from a much smaller studio, it does feel like Take-Two is using its financial and legal resources to take an unfair swing at competition.