The proprietor of the James Bond 007 IP has opposed an try and register a trademark for online game parody character James Pond.
The unique James Pond: Underwater Agent was launched in 1990, and was adopted by the way more fashionable James Pond II: Codename RoboCod.
Though it was adopted by different titles – 1993’s James Pond 3: Operation Starfish and mini-game spin-off The Aquatic Video games – the James Pond sequence basically ended within the mid ’90s, with the one try and revive it being a poorly acquired iOS recreation in 2011.
This has modified lately, with the present James Pond rights co-holders Gameware Europe and System 3 every asserting new James Pond titles (neither of which the sport’s unique creator is especially proud of).
As a part of this new push to revive the James Pond franchise, System 3 filed to trademark ‘James Pond’ final yr, below numerous classes together with video video games, toys and clothes.
Now, as reported by the World Trademark Evaluation (through Time Extension), the trademark utility has been opposed by Danjaq LLC, the holding firm which owns the copyright and logos to the characters, components and different materials associated to the James Bond movies.
Danjaq hasn’t commented on why it has opposed the trademark utility, however the World Trademark Evaluation suggests it’s “extensively anticipated to depend on the status of the Bond mark and the authorized penalties of that standing”.
In an announcement to the publication, System 3 founder and CEO Mark Cale argued that the James Pond character has been established for many years and shouldn’t be thought-about a brand new IP that’s solely just lately been arrange.
“James Pond is a longstanding, well-established and extensively recognised online game property courting again to the early Nineties, with its personal distinct id, historical past and viewers within the video games market,” he stated. “Through the years, it has been commercially revealed and distributed via greater than 12 companions. That historical past included main business names similar to Digital Arts earlier than System 3 acquired the IP rights.
“System 3 has a considerable catalogue of precious traditional retro recreation properties that it continues to protect, restore and convey to trendy audiences. As a part of that course of, formal trademark safety has grow to be more and more essential within the trendy market setting, together with for model verification, safety and direct business exercise on main on-line platforms.
“That is due to this fact not a brand new or invented model, however a real historic video games property with longstanding business presence and recognition of 35 years.”
Final yr Gameware Europe introduced a brand new gamed referred to as James Pond: Rogue AI, which led to James Pond’s unique creator James Sorrell criticising the corporate for selling it with “lazy, AI-generated bullshit”.
“I hate nearly every thing they do with a ardour, all of the extra so since they duped me into being a part of their shambolic Kickstarter marketing campaign all these years again, and I stupidly allowed my identify to grow to be related to their bottom-feeding enterprise,” Sorrell informed Time Extension final yr.
System 3 additionally introduced a retro compilation referred to as James Pond Legacy: The Pond is Not Sufficient, which was additionally criticised for seemingly that includes AI-generated cowl artwork, with Sorrell stating: “That there are two corporations combating over these tepid scraps simply beggars perception.”
Sorrell stated he not likes to affiliate himself due to what the character has grow to be, saying: “The James Pond identify has been so degraded by Gameware that I solely need to distance myself from it.”
