Trademark Suspension Notice Revealed

NeoGaf.com is reporting that the US Patent & Trademark Office has sent notification to Blizzard that all attempts to secure the name "Overwatch" have been suspended. The move comes as a result of conflict with another game that had filed for the same trademark six months prior to Blizzard. Overwatch, Blizzard's entry into the MMOFPS market, was announced at November's Blizzcon.

The applications for both games have been suspended pending a ruling by the USPTO.

Yesterday, on January 9, 2015, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) sent to Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. a suspension letter for trademark applications 86239314 and 86239318, both connected to the new team-based shooter Overwatch which was revealed at BlizzCon 2014. This action by the USPTO stems from an issue brought to attention in July last year where it was found that the filing date of U.S. Application Serial No. 86056160, Overwatch by Innovis Labs, Inc., preceded Blizzard's filing date and thus was subject for a likelihoof confusion (the prior application is under goods and services related to game software and similar). Blizzard appears to have made no attempts to present any arguments as to why their application should not be refused, and thus it has been suspended.

Read the full letters at the link above.