Electronic Arts has been a bit unlucky with its trademark applications lately. Having had its filing for Unravel turned down recently (thanks to a board game), the publisher is now facing opposition from Ubisoft for its attempt to trademark “Ghost.”
The French developer has filed a notice of opposition with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) against EA, stating that the trademark may cause confusion with its Ghost Recon series. Interestingly, it seems that EA filed the trademark for its studio Ghost Games but Ubisoft isn’t convinced and has claimed that it’s been using the trademark since as early as 2001 whereas EA filed an application in 2015. Also, the former apparently took action last summer but only filed the notice of opposition now.
EA has been given until March 29 to respond before court proceedings take place.
As for Unravel, EA’s trademark application has been abandoned but developer Coldwood Interactive’s Martin Sahlin isn’t too worried about the issue. He recently said on Twitter:
Means we don’t have to put annoying TM’s everywhere. I count that as a win 🙂
It remains to be seen how EA will respond to Ubisoft.
