Questions over the future of long-absent Sony game The Last Guardian have been once again been raised now that the trademark is listed as abandoned.

An update on the website Trademarkia has indicated that the status of the game’s trademark has changed to ‘abandoned – no statement of use filed’ leading many to once again suspect that the game may be facing cancellation (if it has not already been cancelled).

Despite the concern, this does not automatically mean that game’s future is as dire as the situation might indicate.

, an intellectual property attorney, who explained the situation:

“In this instance, Sony filed an ‘intent-to-use’ application, where they essentially told the Patent & Trademark Office, ‘Hey, we’d like to register this trademark on certain classes of goods, and we’re not using it in commerce yet, but we will.

“Under the Lanham Act (the statutes governing most of trademark law), Sony then had to submit to the PTO, within a certain period of time (usually one year), a statement saying they were actually using the trademark.  Obviously, they’re not doing that yet, so they couldn’t submit such a statement.”

As such, Sony are in the position where they could resubmit the application, or hold off and release without registering the trademark and deal with anyone infringing upon the trademark at a later date.

Mr Chad added:

“If Sony doesn’t file another intent-to-use application in the next several months, that would be telling.”

Last we heard, The Last Guardian was still receiving input from Fumito Ueda, who everyone had assumed had left the project for good. However, as the months tick by without any official word on the game, you wouldn’t be blamed for worrying…

 

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