It appears that Ubisoft has failed to renew its trademark for Brothers in Arms: Furious 4, and it has now been rejected by the USPTO. Talking to Games Radar, the comapy explained it didn’t renew the trademark on purpose, but that doesn’t mean the game is necessarily canned.
“Initially, Ubisoft submitted the trademarks on behalf of Gearbox with Gearbox and Ubisoft as co-applicants,” saida a representative of Ubisoft’s legal team. “The [United States Patent and Trademark Office] rejected this approach (about 9 months ago), noting Gearbox’s exclusive registrations for all Brothers in Arms trademarks.
“Given the USPTO choice between abandonment or continued administrative confusion on the matter, we simply opted for administrative abandonment until re-filing becomes necessary. To avoid confusion with the USPTO, Gearbox will be filing its future Brothers in Arms-related trademarks directly and individually.”
When asked directly about the Furious 4’s state of development, Ubisoft refuse to give a straight answer, so it is still isn’t clear if the game is just getting its name changed, or is being shelved for the time being.
Brothers in Arms: Furious 4 was first announced in last year’s E3, and since then no new information was revealed (apart from a 2012 summer release window. You can watch the announcement trailer below to see what all the fuss is about.
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