There's been plenty of buzz recently surrounding the co-op puzzle-platformer It Takes Two following its numerous nominations at the 2021 Game Awards, however, the title has been hit with a trademark claim by major games publisher Take-Two Interactive. The claim is in response to how close the title "It Takes Two" is to the publishing company's name and at the current time of writing it seems as if Hazelight Studios has dropped its attempts to secure trademark ownership over the game's title.
Hazelight Studios told Eurogamer that the company isn't currently able to comment on the situation, but that "hopefully it will be resolved." Luckily, Take-Two isn't claiming that Hazelight is infringing on its copyright which would require It Takes Two to either be removed from stores or change its name. Instead, the trademark claim simply blocks Hazelight from being able to trademark the game's title.
As it turns out, this has been going on behind the scenes for quite some time. Hazelight has received a notice of abandonment from the US Patent Office confirming that the studio stopped its attempts to secure a trademark of the name on March 30, 2021, just four days after It Takes Two launched. This seems to indicate that Hazelight had received trademark claims from Take-Two prior to the game's release but went forward with its title anyway.
Because Take-Two Interactive wasn't claiming infringement, there were no immediate legal implications for Hazelight to change anything about the release of It Takes Two, and there remains nothing stopping the studio from continuing to market and sell the game or work on a similarly titled sequel. That said, there is the possibility that certain actions were taken behind the scenes that have impacted Hazelight's marketing of its game and work on potential follow-ups.
One of the major problems that's arisen with Hazelight Studios' inability to secure a trademark on the name is that there are no legal roadblocks stopping other studios from making a game with the same name. When asked for comment about a potential rebrand of It Takes Two by Eurogamer, Hazelight declined to say if anything was in the works.
This sort of behavior isn't anything new for Take-Two as the company is known for its many trademark claims for the use of words such as "rockstar," "mafia," "civilization," and others associated with the company's published titles. Unfortunately, Hazelight Studios is just the next company in a long line that has been blocked from acquiring trademarks on intellectual property by the publishing giant.
It Takes Two is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
