Why is Take-Two filing a trademark claim against It Takes Two?
As per a report by Eurogamer, Take-Two filed the claim back in March, when It Takes Two was first released. Now, it’s come to the point that Hazelight has decided to abandon the trademark rights to the name of their game, which is just sad when you think about it. Neither Hazelight nor the game’s publisher, Electronic Arts, has talked about what its plans are for It-Takes Two going forward. It has been an interesting turn year for Take-Two so far. You’d think that Take-Two wouldn’t even have the right to claim the name “It Takes Two”. Although there are similarities between the publisher’s name and Hazelight’s game, no one’s probably mistaken one for the other. Still, Take-Two pursued the claim, and Hazelight has since officially abandoned the game’s name. Eurogamer claims that Hazelight did not dispute Take-Two’s claim and almost immediately abandoned the trademark to its game. Take-Two’s been on a rampage lately. At least, as far as filing trademark claims go. So far, Take-Two has sued the creators of the Nintendo Switch ports of the classic GTA games and issued DMCA takedown notices against modders. The company has even gone as far as to go after businesses and product names that use the words “rockstar”, “social club”, “civilization”, and “mafia” in their names. Some have attempted to fight back against Take-Two, including the modders behind the Switch ports of the older GTA titles. However, for the most part, Take-Two’s trademark claims have gone relatively uncontested. Ironically, Take-Two’s stance on protecting its IPs is in stark contrast to Rockstar Games. Even though Take-Two technically owns Rockstar, the studio behind GTA and Red Dead Redemption has even gone as far as to reward modders for their efforts. To make matters worse, Take-Two only appears to be willing to go after smaller games and companies while ignoring larger ones. In other news, It Takes Two is currently one of the nominees for the Game of the Year award at The Game Awards 2021. The co-op title is easily one of the best Xbox Series S/X games to date and is an excellent game for couples to bond over, especially throughout the holidays.
