The primary satellite service in the UK is provided by Sky, a pan-European broadcasting firm founded by none other than Rupert Murdoch. And for the past three years, Hello Games has secretly been locked in a trademark dispute with the billion pound firm over the word, well, "Sky". That dispute, according to gaffer Sean Murray, is finally over.
"We can call our game No Man's Sky," he tweeted. "Three years of secret stupid legal nonsense over." While you may be forgiven for thinking that this may have caused the title's recent delay, we're afraid that the space-faring sim's still very much set for its 9th August release – as opposed to its originally intended 21st June target.
You win some, you lose some – but Hello Games will probably sleep a little happier this evening, knowing that Murdoch's no longer breathing down the teensy company's neck.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 20
now I've heard it all. What about all the little kids in the world called sky? are they due in court anytime soon?
@TomKongPhooey knowing Murdoch, yes, absolutely. He'll be after their young hearts to make him immortal. Probably.
You call your company after a regularly used noun which covers 99.9% of the known universe and you don't think this is going to happen? Or maybe he did. Next week virgin are in court with the Jonas brothers.
Utterly ridiculous. I thought there was a clause in law where everyday words that are trademarked could not be used in this fashion - i.e. to block unrelated products.
Not sure how Sky got the trademark anyway. According to trademarking rules in the UK, a trademark cannot "be too common and non-distinctive, eg be a simple statement like ‘we lead the way’".
Besides, it's not like they're competing services or even remotely similar products. Just Sky/Murdoch being obnoxious, I guess.
@Paranoimia Trademark may be my supposition, but I'm not sure what else the legal dispute could have been over.
I remember candy crush wanted to own the word "candy," this is why I hate trademarking words.
Makes me wonder if they've considered taking the actual sky itself to court. Maybe one day.
@Neolit I can't see the precedent, one is a computer game and the other a broadcasting company. Lawyers gotta get paid I guess!
So Sky company owns the word Sky!! Nobody should be able to own everyday words. That's like you can't use rain or sea or dirt or fart. Look I'm going to stop now but don't you see where I'm going. I'm going to cancel my sky subscriptions, I've been looking a good excuse to their question " why do you want to cancel ".
"knowing that Murdoch's no longer breathing" ha ha... I'm just quoting the text
@Neolit but another lawyer could surely counter by saying that there's a distinction between a space flight exploration game with infinite content and a broadcasting empire with a few new shows and endless adverts.
I had a call from sky ®© this morning asking why I'd decided to not renew my subscription, wish I'd thought of this as a reason like a previous commenter suggested....
@themcnoisy oh you.
This was a d**k move on the part of Sky. What a bunch of whoppers they are.
"Hey man, how come your internet is so slow? Are you on BT?"
"NO MAN, SKY".
@Neolit yeah, I couldn't understand that one either at the time and was surprised how little fight Microsoft put up, was expecting a battle of the corporations.
If your product is going to be on the same shelf, as it were, I get the need for protecting your trademark / copyright but both these disputes had tenuous links at best.
Makes me wonder how the food packaging in lidl gets away with borrowing other brands designs with no arguments.
Surely the word Sky can not be used exclusively by the broadcaster. Its a word thats in common use. Sky are a money grabbing bunch of ****. Not you No Mans Sky we love you.
@LieutenantFatman For real!
@Neolit I can understand that because one would assume that its a kind of service provided by Sky...I mean if it was called AppleDrive I'd automatically assume it was a iOS/OSX service. But this is silly! I wonder if they go after songs, books, and movies with "sky" in the title as well
This is all getting a bit Fine Bros. now. And it's just another reason in a long list as to why I don't like Rupert Murdoch.
Take my love, take my land
Take me where I cannot stand
I don't care, I'm still free
You can't take the Sky from me.
still most anticipated game of 2016 by far
@NomNom
They tried to sue the makers of "The Banner Saga", a game about vikings epic stories (I. E. Exact what a Saga is) because clearly saga is a word more associated with candy crush.
Doesn't Taylor Swift own "1985" ? If she was born a year earlier, she would probably have sued George Orwell''s estate and Annie Lennox.
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