{"id":233780,"date":"2025-10-30T10:05:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T10:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/233780\/"},"modified":"2025-10-30T10:05:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T10:05:12","slug":"fame-does-not-create-a-trademark-sony-tencents-war-of-words-over-horizon-rip-off-rage-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/233780\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Fame Does Not Create a Trademark’: Sony, Tencent’s War of Words Over Horizon Rip-Off Rage On"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"'Fame<\/a>Image: Push Square<\/p>\n

Tencent is not backing down in its fight against Sony<\/a> over the alleged Horizon<\/a> rip-off Light of Motiram<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The two organisations have gone back-and-forth in the courts a couple of times now, with the PlayStation maker originally describing its Chinese rival\u2019s effort as a \u201cslavish clone\u201d.<\/p>\n

It sought the complete elimination of the project, which it said could materially impact the future growth of the Horizon franchise due to its similarities.<\/p>\n

Tencent responded by filing a motion to dismiss<\/a>, arguing that Sony is seeking \u201can impermissible monopoly on genre conventions\u201d. It pointed out that the PlayStation property also shares similarities with games like The Legend of Zelda<\/a> and Enslaved: Odyssey to the West<\/a>.<\/p>\n

PlayStation then rubbished the company\u2019s arguments as \u201cnonsense\u201d and accused it of trying to hide behind its many subsidiaries<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now Tencent has once again responded, asking courts to yet again dismiss the case, as reported by The Game Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The firm pointed out that with Light of Motiram not scheduled to release until late 2027, the Japanese giant is complaining about \u201cfuture conduct\u201d regarding a project that\u2019s unreleased. It argued that the case is premature, and doesn\u2019t warrant consideration at this stage.<\/p>\n

It reiterated that Sony is suing the wrong entity, as Tencent Holdings is \u201cnot the developer or publisher\u201d of the game in question. It noted that Tencent Shanghai and Proximity Beta are the makers of the title \u2013 separate entities which are subsidiaries of Tencent.<\/p>\n

The firm also hit back at PlayStation\u2019s arguments regarding protagonist Aloy, claiming \u201cfame does not make a trademark\u201d.<\/p>\n

It said Sony can\u2019t rely on the character\u2019s popularity or recognisability alone, and argued that the company has failed to \u201cidentify Aloy\u2019s appearance as a trademark outside of the game\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the complaint, Sony says that the purported mark is characterised by its attire, accessories, and facial markings. But generalised descriptions are not enough to identify a trademark,\u201d it countered.<\/p>\n

Sony and Tencent have now both had an opportunity to make their arguments, and subsequently the courts will decide whether this case goes further or is dismissed.<\/p>\n

PlayStation will be hoping to take things to the next stage, as it ultimately wants to pull the plug on Light of Motiram. The Chinese firm, meanwhile, wants the whole case to be dismissed.<\/p>\n

Assuming the courts rule in Sony\u2019s favour, there could be a long legal battle ahead, unless Tencent eventually decides to settle.<\/p>\n

We should get some kind of ruling on whether this case will continue in the not-too distant future.<\/p>\n

[source thegamepost.com<\/a>]<\/p>\n

\tRelated Games<\/p>\n

\tSee Also<\/p>\n

\"Sammy<\/p>\n

As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He\u2019s an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys RPGs when he has the time to dedicate to them, and is a bit of a gacha whale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Image: Push Square Tencent is not backing down in its fight against Sony over the alleged Horizon rip-off…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233781,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[59,22724,3002,29225,112,622,86,29224,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-233780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-gb","tag-horizon","tag-legal","tag-light-of-motiram","tag-ps5","tag-sony","tag-technology","tag-tencent","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}