Summary
Stellar Bladewas a pretty decent video game.It didn’t blow us away, but it was a fun enough time, and is primarily remembered thanks toall the controversy before launch surrounding the main character’s body. For many of us, we’ve had our fun and Stellar Blade is in the rearview mirror, but for one unfortunately named company in Louisiana, the game’s release was the beginning of a nightmare.
First reported by IGN, a film production company based in the state called Stellarblade is suingPlayStationand Stellar Blade (the game) developer Shift Up over trademark infringement, with the company claiming that its business has been damaged. Stellarblade owner Griffith Chambers Mehaffey has filed a lawsuit against Shift Up, Sony, and an unnamed insurance company that Mehaffey claims provides SIE with liability insurance.
Stellarblade Is Suing PlayStation Over Stellar Blade
In the lawsuit itself, Mehaffey claims that he has owned the Stellarblade company since 2010 -and the website since 2006- which offers “multimedia entertainment services”. Mehaffey’s main issue with the video game Stellar Blade is the effects it’s had on his business, claiming that people had no problem finding his services before the game was announced, but are now constantly finding info about the game instead.
He also notes that Stellar Blade was originally announced as Project Eve,eventually changing its name to Stellar Blade in 2022. Shift Up filed a trademark for the title in January 2023, five months before Mehaffey filed his own trademark for Stellarblade in June 2023, after which he sent the Korean studio a cease and desist letter one month later.
According to IGN, Mehaffey is asking for a number of things in this lawsuit, including an injunction to stop PlayStation and Shift Up from using the Stellar Blade name. He also wants the two companies to hand over all material under the Stellar Blade name so that he and Stellarblade can destroy it, as well as compensation for damages and attorney fees.
It’s certainly a bizarre case, though one that feels doomed from the start, just because of the sheer size of PlayStation. While it’s easy to sympathize with Stellarblade, having been around for so long but now finding itself buried by a 7/10 at best, it’s difficult to see a positive outcome for them.
Stellar Blade
WHERE TO PLAY
Stellar Blade is an action-driven game from Shift Up, originally revealed as Project Eve. It follows the aforementioned Eve as she battles the alien Naytiba invaders, in a bid to reclaim the Earth for humanity.
