The trademark for Diablo is in jeopardy of becoming synonymous with a Fox animated show's dog as developer Blizzard Entertainment fights to stop the name from being trademarked. In the two decades that Blizzard has owned the Diablo trademark, it has built a top-rated and successful franchise. While it caught flak in 2018 for the announcement of Diablo Immortal for mobile devices, the franchise has Diablo IV in the works and is as recognizable as ever.
Diablo III was met with controversy when it launched back in 2012. Players could trade real-world cash for in-game loot and vice versa in a virtual Auction House. While the initial idea was solid, it quickly diminished the game's appeal when a player could buy the best equipment without grinding for it like others. Blizzard's scrutiny has increased over the years after the Blitzchung Hong Kong debacle and the widening schism between the company and its fans.
As reported by PCGamesN, Blizzard is battling Fox Media over the Diablo trademark. Fox wishes to trademark the name for its upcoming animated show HouseBroken, a show about a therapy dog named Honey and her friends. The name is shared by a character on the show, and Fox is presumably looking to market the name with merchandise for people and their pets. Blizzard argues that the Fox trademark would "likely cause confusion," which is prohibited by federal trademark law.
Blizzard lists the accolades and awards won by the franchise in the filing. It could be what the company constitutes as proof of success with the trademark to sway the decision. It also lists that Diablo Immortal is releasing this year and that Diablo 4 is in development, though there's still no release window for the latter. Interestingly, Blizzard included the views on Diablo Immortal's reveal and gameplay trailers. The reveal trailer has over six million views on YouTube but only 32,000 likes compared to the 768,000 dislikes at the time of writing. Similarly, the Diablo Immortal's gameplay trailer has over 4 million views with 27,000 likes and 343,000 dislikes.
If the trademark for Diablo becomes associated with an animated dog over an award-winning 20-year-old game franchise, one has to wonder what Blizzard does next. However, the idea of the company having to drop the name of one of its largest franchises or otherwise being hampered in selling games and merchandise seems highly unlikely. Blizzard seems to have a very strong claim on its hands, so it doesn't seem probable that Fox's Diablo trademark bid will win out.
Source: PCGamesN