Steallarblade filed a lawsuit against Sony for the name of the game Stellar Blade
In the spring of 2024, one of the most popular games was the action adventure Stellar Blade. However, now the Korean studio ShiftUp and publisher Sony are being sued by a film studio with the same name.
Here's What We Know
A Louisiana-based film company called Stellarblade claims trademark infringement and claims that its business has been damaged by the use of the Shift Up name.
The lawsuit, which IGN has seen, was filed in a Louisiana court in early September by Stellarblade LLC against Shift Up, Sony and an unnamed insurance company that the plaintiff claims insured Sony Interactive Entertainment against liability for the same allegations the film company is making.
The company's founder, Mehaffi, notes that when Shift Up first announced its game in 2019, it was called Project Eve. However, in 2022, the name was changed to Stellar Blade, and in January 2023, Shift Up first registered Stellar Blade as a video game-related trademark. In June 2023, Mehaffey registered his own Stellarblade trademark, and a month later sent Shift Up a letter demanding that it stop using it.
Mehaffey claims that while his customers used to be able to easily find information about the company, now people searching for Stellarblade film company on the Internet only find the Stellar Blade video game.
Mehaffie asks for an injunction against Shift Up and Sony from using the Stellar Blade name, as well as for all materials related to Stellar Blade to be handed over so that Mehaffie and Stellarblade can destroy them.
Mehaffey's lawyer also sent the following statement to IGN:
"Mr Mehaffey registered the domain stellarblade.com in 2006 and has used the name STELLARBLADE for his business for nearly 15 years. Given this lengthy period of public use, it is difficult to imagine that Shift Up and Sony were unaware of Mr. Mehaffey's established rights before adopting their identical mark. We believe in fair competition, but when large companies disregard the established rights of smaller businesses, we have a duty to defend our brand. The defendants' vastly superior resources have effectively monopolised STELLARBLADE search results on the Internet, pushing Mr Mehaffey's long-standing business into digital obscurity and threatening the livelihood he has built over more than a decade."
Now, of course, it's interesting to see how this all plays out.
Go Deeper:
- The gg editorial team was pleased with Stellar Blade and gave the game 4.5 out of 5. It's a good game that stands out most for its gameplay and atmosphere. Read more in our Stellar Blade review.
Source: ign