As reported by IGN, Sony and Stellar Blade developer Shift Up have been sued in the United States for trademark infringement. The plaintiff is Griffith Chambers Mehaffey, owner of a multimedia company named Stellarblade LLC whose officials website is available here. Mehaffey’s lawyer sent the following statement to IGN:
Mr. Mehaffey registered the stellarblade.com domain in 2006 and has used the STELLARBLADE name for his business for nearly 15 years. Given this long-standing and public use, it’s difficult to imagine that Shift Up and Sony were unaware of Mr. Mehaffey’s established rights before adopting their identical mark. We believe in fair competition, but when larger companies disregard the established rights of smaller businesses, it’s our responsibility to stand up and protect our brand. The defendants’ far superior resources have effectively monopolized online search results for STELLARBLADE, pushing Mr. Mehaffey’s long-established business into digital obscurity and threatening the livelihood he’s built over more than a decade.
In all likelihood, none of this would have happened if Stellar Blade had not become a major success. The game became a million-seller very quickly, boosting Shift Up’s evaluation right before the Korean company went public. Shift Up is also working on DLC and a PC port.
We rated Stellar Blade 9 out of 10. Here’s the excerpt from Kai Tatsumoto’s review:
No butts about it, Stellar Blade is a marvelous feast for the eyes and a technically impressive action RPG. Those who find the hyper-sexualized Eve offputting will find little redemption in finding some modesty for the playable heroine, but at the same time, those already accustomed to the years following Bayonetta’s release and 2Booty memes will find the character designs enjoyable, to say the least. Stellar Blade is a fantastic action title and one PlayStation exclusive you’ll have to play after the kids go to bed.
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