News source: China Court Network. Blizzard Entertainment, the well-known American game company, applied to the State Administration for Industry and Commerce of China to register the English name of the new StarCraft title — STARCRAFT: GHOST — as a trademark for esports services and other items. The application was rejected by the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board on the grounds that the name involves promoting feudal superstition. Blizzard then filed suit with the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court, asking the court to overturn the Board’s decision to reject the review of the “STARCRAFT: GHOST” trademark application. This morning, reporters learned from the court that Blizzard’s claims were not upheld.
Blizzard Entertainment is known worldwide for developing StarCraft, Warcraft, and many other online games. In 1998, the real-time strategy PC game “STARCRAFT” — StarCraft — that the company released took the world by storm, and the game also became one of the four major titles in today’s global esports competitions.
As for the rejection of the “STARCRAFT: GHOST” trademark registration, the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board’s stated reason was that “STARCRAFT: GHOST” is a term prone to producing negative effects, carrying the meanings of “astrology” and “ghost,” and thus constitutes feudal superstition contrary to socialist morality.
The Board held that a trademark, beyond indicating the source of goods, is also a vehicle with a cultural and promotional orientation, and must not carry any circumstance that could produce negative effects. “Astrology ghost,” from any angle, is inconsistent with socialist morality, and if it were not stopped, the trademark field would be flooded with a large number of word marks of the same character.
After the trademark was rejected, Blizzard sued in court, stating that its application to register the “STARCRAFT: GHOST” trademark for game news, esports services and other items was for the purpose of providing related information and game services on its online game service platform Battle.net, and was absolutely not for promoting feudal superstition or engaging in illegal superstitious activities. “STARCRAFT: GHOST” is the name of a computer game, has nothing to do with superstition, and will not produce negative effects. Moreover, the company had already registered the “STARCRAFT: GHOST” trademark, No. 4809949, in Class 9 goods, “computer game software,” which shows that the trademark is registrable.
In addition, Blizzard submitted a large number of web pages found through Baidu and Google searches to prove that “STARCRAFT: GHOST” translates as StarCraft: Ghost, is simply a game name, and has nothing to do with feudal superstition.
This morning, it was learned from the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court that Blizzard’s claims have been rejected by the court, which held that using the text “STARCRAFT: GHOST” as a trademark is likely to lead to negative effects. It is understood that Blizzard has already appealed the case.
This article is reprinted from http://www.cnbeta.com/articles/76985.htm