Category: Video Games

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News Trademarks Video Games

Disney files trademarks for Gnome Town for online social networking services

Gnome Town

Disney Enterprises has filed 4 trademarks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for “Gnome Town”.

With the sleeper cartoon movie hit Gnomeo & Juliet so far earning $189,967,670 worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo, it’s no wonder Disney is taking the film based on William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet online.

According to the USPTO, 4 trademarks were filed by Disney Enterprises on July 19 and cover a wide range of services including social networking, an online virtual community, online computer games and more.

Here’s a look at each trademark application:

Word Mark  GNOME TOWN [85374891] 
Goods and Services IC 045. US 100 101. G & S: Online social networking services

Word Mark  GNOME TOWN [85374901] 
Goods and Services IC 042. US 100 101. G & S: Computer services, namely, creating an online virtual community for registered users to participate in and hold competitions, showcase their skills, improve their talent, participate in incentive award programs, get feedback from their peers, form virtual communities, trade, buy and sell virtual goods, conduct virtual tours, facilitate interaction among users, rank users, engage in social networking, and participate in on-line discussion boards; providing temporary use of non-downloadable software to enable viewing, previewing, sharing, manipulating, and creating blogs regarding computer games via global computer networks and electronic communication networks for use in connection with computers, mobile computers, media players, cellular phones, wireless devices and portable and handheld digital electronic devices; providing temporary use of non-downloadable software to enable viewing, previewing, sharing, manipulating, enhancements for computer games, online games, and game applications and information relating to computer games and game enhancements via global computer networks and electronic communication networks for use in connection with computers, mobile computers, media players, cellular phones, wireless devices and portable and handheld digital electronic devices

Word Mark  GNOME TOWN [85374915] 
Goods and Services IC 041. US 100 101 107. G & S: Entertainment and education services; providing online computer games, online enhancements for computer games, and providing online games; providing information relating to computer games and game enhancements via global computer networks and electronic communication networks for use in connection with computers, mobile computers, media players, cellular phones, wireless devices and portable and handheld digital electronic devices; providing an online entertainment information service featuring information regarding computer games, enhancements for computer games, online games, and game applications via global computer networks and electronic communication networks for use in connection with computers, mobile computers, media players, cellular phones, wireless devices and portable and handheld digital electronic devices; providing temporary use of non-downloadable computer games; providing temporary use of non downloadable software for playing computer games; providing temporary use of non downloadable software to enable playing and otherwise providing computer games

Word Mark  GNOME TOWN [85374926]
Goods and Services IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: Audio recordings; video recordings; audio and visual recordings; video game cartridges, discs and software; computer game cartridges and discs; consumer electronics and accessories therefor; eyeglasses and sunglasses and accessories therefor; decorative refrigerator magnets; graduated rulers for office and stationery; hand-held units for playing electronic games for use with an external display screen or monitor; computer software, namely, computer game software; electronic games and game software that may be downloaded via global computer networks and electronic communication networks for use in connection with computers, mobile computers, media players, cellular phones, wireless devices and portable and handheld digital electronic devices

So who owns the domain name gnometown.com? Not Disney apparently. The web address has been registered for years.

This past February, Disney acquired Togetherville, a social network for kids 10 years of age or younger.

At the time of this story, Disney has not officially announced the venture.

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Disputes National Arbitration Forum News Video Games

ModernWarfare3.com owner revealed, Go Daddy’s Privacy removed during UDRP

Modern Warfare 3 reveal trailer

The Battlefield 3 fanboy who has fueled the drama between Electronic Arts and Activision by re-directing ModernWarfare3.com to Battlefield.com has been officially revealed.

Originally hidden behind Go Daddy’s Domains By Proxy (DBP) service, it appears the registrar giant doesn’t want to get involved in the domain dispute recently filed under the UDRP by Activision against the owner of ModernWarfare3.com.

Today, Go Daddy’s DBP has removed the privacy service on the domain, revealing the identity of the ModernWarfare3.com owner who has entertained Call of Duty and Battlefield fans with his online antics for weeks.

So who is this person who got the attention of gaming publications, fans and of course, Activision?

The registrant is Anthony Abraham of Florida according to the latest Whois records furnished by DomainTools. 

Anthony, who has been hush hush since the beginning, will likely be receiving calls and e-mails from reporters over the next few days.

Now, if you’re wondering why the privacy service was removed all of the sudden, according to the Domains by Proxy website, cancelling the privacy service is just how it handles UDRP matters.

“DBP routinely receives notices from its affiliated registrars informing it of the filing of various administrative proceedings under the Policy.  Upon receipt of such notices, DBP cancels its privacy service for the domain name that is the subject of the Policy dispute and notifies its customer about the cancellation of service.”

Discussion: Kotaku, Joystiq, Game Rant and Machinima

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Disputes National Arbitration Forum News Video Games

Activision files complaint over ModernWarfare3.com, posted online

Modernwarfare3.com domain dispute

Breaking update July 19, 2011 04:57 AM EST:  The identity of ModernWarfare3.com has now been revealed.

**

Activision has had enough with ModernWarfare3.com.

The gaming company has filed its first domain name dispute with the National Arbitration Forum.

The complaint was filed today, July 15, a week after the mystery owner of the domain started re-directing the URL to EA’s Battlefield.com, sparking a flurry of news stories.

Although I track domain disputes filed with the National Arbitration Forum and the World Intellectual Property Organization, I didn’t find out about the dispute through their online databases, instead I found out about the dispute when I paid a visit to ModernWarfare3.com.

As of today, ModernWarfare3.com is back to its old format online, but with a twist.  Sitting on the home page is a copy of the complaint (read here) the owner received.

Now begins the UDRP (Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy), which was adopted by ICANN in the late nineties.

The complaint cost Activision $2,600 USD to file for a three-member panel.

The 11-page document, includes among other things, reasons by Activision as to why the respondent has no right or legitimate interest to the name.

Activision states, “It appears that the Respondent supports the game Battlefield from the game developer Electronic Arts (“EA”).  EA is one of Complainant’s principal competitors in the video game industry, and Battlefield game competes in the marketplace with Complainant’s MODERN WARFARE games and its other military-themed shooter games in the CALL OF DUTY series.”

Discussion: Kotaku, gameinformer, Electronic Arts UK Community, Gaming Union, RipTen, GameSpot, Benzinga, Games On Net, GoNintendo, Joystiq, IGN, ars technica,  The Daily BLAM!, Game Rant, Digital Trends, VideoGamer, GameSpy, Kit Guru, MCV, The Inquirer, PCWorld, The Escapist, Facepunch, Gamasutra, VE3D, Lazygamer, The Morton Report, Spong, 1UP and bnet

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News Video Games

Activision abandons Secret Warfare video game for Call of Duty franchise

Call of Duty: Secret WarfareActivision could be abandoning plans to develop a Call of Duty: Secret Warfare title, as well as other Call of Duty games, according to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Monday July 11 marked the abandonment date. 

According to the USPTO, the trademark application was abandoned because no ‘Statement of Use’ or ‘Extension Request’ was filed after the ‘Notice of Allowance’ (NOA) was issued back in December 2010.

Activision hinted at plans of developing any one of a number of new titles for its Call of Duty franchise last May, after the company registered a slew of domain names and filed several trademark applications.

The ‘Secret Warfare’ trademark application is the first, in what may likely be a series of abandoned trademark applications to follow, as the game publisher focuses on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 set to release in November 2011.

The other ‘Call of Duty’ trademark applications, all filed by Activision Publishing on May 11, 2010, just had their NOA issued, therefore the company has six months from today, to use the mark in commerce and submit a Statement of Use or request an extension. 

Or, as in the case of ‘Secret Warfare’, abandon the application altogether.

For disappointed Call of Duty fans, don’t rule out a Secret Warfare title just yet.  Activision still has a ‘live’ application submitted for CALL OF DUTY SECRET WARFARE, as shown below.

CALL OF DUTY ADVANCED WARFARE [Serial Number: 85035848]
CALL OF DUTY FUTURE WARFARE [Serial Number: 85035853]
CALL OF DUTY SECRET WARFARE [Serial Number: 85035859]
CALL OF DUTY SPACE WARFARE [Serial Number: 85035865]
FUTURE WARFARE [Serial Number: 85035869]
SPACE WARFARE [Serial Number: 85035875]

Categories
News Video Games

Activision has purchased the domain SurvivalAdventure.com, quietly

Activision

Activision has acquired the domain name SurvivalAdventure.com using MarkMonitor, a brand protection company. 

The domain was purchased earlier this month from BuyDomains, an online marketplace that owns hundreds of thousands of domains.  

On July 6 the registrant information switched from BuyDomains to DNStination, Inc. (the name of MarkMonitor’s domain buying service) according to Whois history. 

Then only days ago on July 8, the Whois information switched again, this time to Activision Publishing’s Mary Tuck.

SurvivalAdventure.com was listed for sale online with a buy-it-now price of just $1,588, however the final sale price wasn’t made available, so it’s unknown whether Activision paid a different amount.

Unlike previous domain purchases by Activision which are easy to spot because the company regularly uses activision.com for its name servers, this purchase was done using a more stealthy approach.  When the name came out from behind Whois privacy, it switched from MarkMonitor’s name servers to att-dsa.net, which just so happens to be the same name server of its most popular web address, callofduty.com [Whois].

Here’s a look at the current Whois record via DomainTools.

Whois SurvivalAdventure.com

Obviously, the game publisher has plans for the name to acquire it on the aftermarket instead of registering it for the first time, but at this point, it’s hard to speculate as to what game the company is planning to develop.

At the time of this posting, no other gaming news site or blog has reported this news.  Nor has anyone written about Activision releasing a game called: Survival Adventure.