It’s been discovered that Grand Theft Auto parent company Take-Two Interactive has filed a trademark dispute against Remedy Entertainment over its logo, apparently because it contains the letter “R.”
Remedy, best known for games like Alan Wake 2 and the Max Payne series, unveiled a new studio logo last April, which only consists of a stylized “R.” Remedy filed trademark applications for it and a second logo (which looks exactly the same but with Remedy written underneath it) the following May. But, as spotted by Respawn First on Jan. 15, Take-Two wound up disputing both logos four months later in September.
You can view the trademark listings for yourself on the U.K. Government’s Intellectual Property Office website (first logo is here, second logo is here). According to Respawn First, Take-Two thinks “There exists a likelihood of confusion on the part of the public.”
This can only be in reference to GTA developer Rockstar Games, one of Take-Two’s subsidiaries, whose logo also primarily consists of the letter “R.” Looking at the logos side-by-side, it’s a bit much to argue they look too similar and risk confusing people just because they make use of the same letter. One of the two Remedy logos has its own name on it, while the Rockstar one has the “R” prominently displayed on a yellow background with a star next to it.
This dispute is hardly surprising coming from Take-Two, though. This is the same company that forced Hazelight to abandon its trademark for the co-op game It Takes Two simply because its name was similar to Take-Two (via Eurogamer). The company has also filed trademark disputes against others for their use of words like “rockstar,” “social club,” and “mafia.”
At the time of writing, there have been no updates to the trademark listings since the September oppositions, so it’s anyone’s guess how this situation will be resolved. Hopefully, this hasn’t sparked any bad blood between Remedy and Rockstar as the two are working together to remake the first two Max Payne games.
Update Jan. 18 9am CT: In a statement provided to Game File’s Stephen Totilo on X (formerly Twitter), Remedy has assured there’s “nothing to see here” regarding the trademark dispute. That’s because the situation was amicably resolved towards the end of 2023, and Take-Two’s legal filing was just a formality. Remedy also assures the two companies “continue to work together in partnership,” no doubt in reference to the Max Payne remakes.
