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UPDATE: The Last Guardian Still In Development

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UPDATE: The Last Guardian Still In Development

Published: by Cheat Code Central Staff | Leave a comment

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Yesterday’s news that The Last Guardian’s U.S. trademark had expired was met with speculation that the long-in-development title had finally just been given up for dead. After all, if Sony were so keen on bringing the game to market, wouldn’t they have kept on top of the trademark and made sure to renew it before it had a chance to expire?

Sony came out with a brief response, simply stating that the game is still in development, but the truth behind the trademark expiration is a bit trickier than it seems, and far less indicative of the game’s status than one might expect.



One can trademark something without actually registering that trademark with the government, though doing so does make your trademark easier to enforce. To register a trademark, though, requires that one either use that trademark for commerce or show intent to do so in the near future. It boils down to Sony initially filing its intent-to-use application for The Last Guardian, but the game then taking far longer to complete than expected. As such, the intent-to-use trademark is expiring, unless Sony decides to renew it, but that does not mean they are actually abandoning their trademark. Savvy?

Those anticipating the game can breathe a tentative sigh of relief.

By Shelby Reiches

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