Stellarblade Versus Stellar Blade
Stellarblade, a film production company from Louisiana is suing PlayStation and developer Shift Up for their game, Stellar Blade. IGN recently spotted a lawsuit filed in Louisiana court, where Griffith Chambers Mehaffey, the owner of a film production company, is suing the game’s developer, Sony, and an unnamed insurance company.
Stellarblade and Mehaffey claim that their Louisiana-based company has provided “multimedia entertainment services” like film, documentary, commercial, and music video production services since 2010. They also state that Mehaffey has owned the stellarblade.com domain since 2006 and has used it for his work since 2011.
Mehaffey points out that Shift Up originally announced its game as “Project Eve” in 2019, and then showcased it again in 2021 under the same name. In 2022, the game’s title was changed to “Stellar Blade”. And by January 2023, Shift Up officially trademarked “Stellar Blade” for the game. In June 2023, Mehaffey trademarked the name “Stellarblade” himself and sent a cease-and-desist letter to Shift Up a month later.
Mehaffey says that it used to be easy for people to find his business online. But now when they search for Stellarblade, they mostly come across a video game called Stellar Blade. He also believes the trademarks are “confusingly similar”, pointing out the color schemes of both logos and the stylized “S”.
Now, he is asking the court to stop Shift Up and Sony from using the name “Stellar Blade” or anything that sounds like it. They also want these companies to hand over all materials that have the name on them so Mehaffey and Stellarblade can destroy them. On top of that, Mehaffey is seeking compensation for damages and legal fees.
It’s early to predict the lawsuit’s outcome, but it will be intriguing to see if Mehaffey can gain ground against two larger opponents.