Sony and Guerilla Games has a bit of a legal issue with its upcoming Horizon Zero Dawn expansion, The Frozen Wilds. The trademark application was suspended on September 18 by the US Patent and Trademark Office because another games company already has something similar. D’oh!
The trademark suspension was noticed by a NeoGAF user, and it reveals that Huuuge Global Limited had originally filed a trademark application for Frozen Wild on May 28. For those of you who may not know, Frozen Wild is a free-to-play mobile slot machine game that was released on October 17. A trademark request was not filed for The Frozen Wilds by Sony until June 12, even though the expansion for Horizon was announced in March.
Because these are both video games, it’s now up to the US Patent and Trademark Office to decide whether consumers will be confused by Frozen Wild and The Frozen Wilds. If the Patent Office feels that there are grounds for confusion then Sony will either have to rename The Frozen Wilds, or pay Huuuge Global to change the name of Frozen Wild.
Let’s be serious, though. It’s doubtful Sony will change the name, and this issue just means that it’ll take longer to trademark.
Horizon Zero Dawn’s DLC expansion will still be released on November 7.
