Wing Commander Trademark Extended (February 12, 2012)

[ChrisReid]

NuAngel spotted an update to the Wing Commander trademark that Electronic Arts filed back in 2009. In the years since the filing first made the news, evidence has mounted that preproduction continues on a new Wing Commander game. And although there is still little firm information at this time, it seems like the project has been quite a while in the making. The trademark filing shows that there have been several extensions submitted, and the most recent went through on September 6, 2011. It was first established on August 5, 2009. Hopefully the extension means the project still has momentum!

Mark (words only): WING COMMANDER

Standard Character claim: Yes

Current Status: A third request for extension of time to file a Statement of Use has been granted.

Date of Status: 2011-09-06

Filing Date: 2009-08-05

LAST APPLICANT(S)/OWNER(S) OF RECORD

1. ELECTRONIC ARTS INC.

Address:
ELECTRONIC ARTS INC.
209 Redwood Shores Parkway Legal Department
Redwood City, CA 94065
United States

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Original update published on February 12, 2012

 

[Darkmage]

Why would EA ever let the trademark lapse? They still get money from Good Old Games and other vendors they on sell the licenses to.

 

[c0mc0]

I was thinking the same thing...Wouldn't they keep all their back catalogue of IP up to date to ensure they retain rights to it? If I recall correctly, in US law, if you can't provide proof that you have actively sought to protect your ownership of a trademark, you can loose the right to hold it exclusively when challenged in court? Certainly could be wrong about that though...

 

[AD]

First thing: EA did not let the Wing Commander trademark lapse. it has been in place since 1990 and was tranfered from Origin to EA in 1992, and they renewed it for a 10 year extension in 2002. You can read that entry here: http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=74092777

Trademarks don't cover everything though. If I were to start selling running shoes and had their name trademarked, that wouldn't necessarily stop someone from trademarking the same name for use in relation to Airplanes since the markets for the two products don't really intersect. So this 2009 entry http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=77797474 is something new. In fact a close look at the language shows that it specifically talks about digital distribution, social and mobile gaming, and media streaming...

On the other hand, there was a third Wing Commander trademark created specifically for movie merchandising. You can read it here... http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=75659401 (hehe swim floats)