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Trademark

Esports as a commercial industry is still young and primarily driven by entrepreneurs.

Most of them use a lot of money and energy trying to create a solid and well-known brand.

The brand must be able to be remembered, supported, and associated with something positive. In other words, the trademark.

However, some companies may be tempted to take advances of competitors or some esports organisations brands either locally or globally.

To protect your trademark and ensure that you do not build a trademark that infringes other people’s trademarks in your country or the rest of the world, do you want to register your trademark.

What is a trademark?

A trademark is an intellectual property consisting of recognizable words, phrases, logos, symbols, designs, sound, colour, jingle, or a combination of these things.

In Denmark, for example, the esports organisation Copenhagen Flames has registered its name and logo as a trademark. This means that competitors cannot copy the trademark or profit from all the hard work and expense that Copenhagen Flames has posted in establishing their trademark.

Another organisation that has also protected its trademark is Astralis.

Astralis has registered the trademark in Denmark, the United States, and through the Madrid Protocol, covering 122 countries. By having registered the brand in many countries, Astralis can enforce abuse against, for example, copy products if they use Astralis’ logo and/or name on their products.

The above-mentioned esports organisations are good examples of organisations that have registered their trademark. However, this is not the norm in esports yet. This is probably due to financial priorities, as trademark registration is associated with expenses. However, it can quickly become expensive if the organisation ignores to registerer their trademark. Either as a result of others abusing and copying the organisation’s trademark or, in the worst case, if the other esports organisations already have registered a similar brand and suddenly apply for compensation.

Other well-known trademarks

In esports is one of the most well-known cases the Riot Games Inc vs. Riot Squad Esports LLC case. The video game company Riot Games Inc, who are the creators of the video game League of Legends filed a lawsuit against the esports team “Riot Squad” due to their team name. The “Riot Squad” team notably, does not own a League of Legends team but only fields rosters in CS:GO, Fortnite and other games. In 2021 no official decision has been made regarding either the trademark dispute or the lawsuit.

A trademark is valid for ten years.

A trademark is valid for ten years from registration after which you can apply to renew it. The possibilities for enforcing others’ unauthorized use of the organisation’s trademark will, of course, increase considerably.

A trademark is valid for ten years from registration after which you can apply to renew it. The possibilities for enforcing others’ unauthorized use of the organisation’s trademark will, of course, increase considerably.

As an esports organisation, it might seem overwhelming to have to register a trademark with challenges, costs, and having to prioritize whether registration is necessary.

With our experience and expertise are we able to make a trademark assessment to help you deice if your brand identity is trademark-worthy.

Do you need help?

Do not hesitate to contact us. We will already at the initial dialogue be helpful in making a risk assessment, as well as clarify your needs. Did we say that the initial dialogue is free?

We are looking forward to hearing from you.

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