The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has suspended Blizzard’s trademark for Overwatch.
According to documents found by a NeoGAF user, the USPTO suspended the trademark due to confusion. The documents revealed that Innovis Labs also registered the trademark for Overwatch, which is an app for a smartphone to enhance airsoft, paintball and first-person shooter gameplay, according to their website. Their trademark was also suspended.
Overwatch is the World of Warcraft developer’s take on the first-person-shooter genre, designed specifically to appeal to the Esports crowd. While the game has some similarities to Valve’s Team Fortress 2, Overwatch also incorporates ideas from the beat-em-up genre, such as a wide variety or characters with unique abilities and special moves. Overwatch was originally announced during Blizzcon 2014, with a tentative release date of sometime later this year. Knowing Blizzard however, we wouldn’t be surprised to see that release date slip - the developer is famous for only releasing games when it’s 100% satisfied that it has a hit on its hands.
Neither Blizzard or Innovis Labs have commented on the news - but we’ll update you when they do.