Microsoft's Killer Instinct trademark renewal denied, likelihood of confusion with Fox television show

With the amount of Fox shows that came and went like farts, you'd be surprised how many copyrights pass through Fox. It's unfair.

Well... damn.

Hopefully this can be resolved soon,this just seems like a simple annoyance

Well that's really disturbing. Come on, there has to be another way in getting KI back in business.

C-C-C-C-C-Combo Breaker! *needed to be said*

Oh Come on, some lame Fox show from 7 years ago? That's annoying.

That's bull sh-t!!!!

:(

Perfectly Ok with a KI renewal never happening.

Who wants this MK reject to come back
(now take the bait, take it.)

This is absurd. Killer Instinct, two common words, it's not like it's a registered trademark phrase. Besides lots of movies, shows, and games out there that share the same titles and have nothing to do with one another, this is complete BS.

Still waiting on a godlike crossover MK vs KI that would be amazing!

I don't see where the Patent dudes are coming from, sorry I don't get it.

WHY, UNIVERSE? WHY? :(

I want this to happen so bad! I'm surprised that with the original game coming before their would be issues...

I agree with 11 about several products sharing the same name with no common factor, could understand if it was a different game, or atleast a show which is still in the public eye. Although i understand that rare lost the rights/trademark of KI by not updating it, it's weird how they would allow it the other away around when the game was known before the show. Just rename it "Killa Instinct", saying that theres probably an obscured rap album with that name.

Anyways, was never a big fan of KI even when it was originally out so I'm not too bothered

#16

And thing is the "confusion" crap is nonsense, I work at an FYE and people always confuse those movies with same name, hell they even confuse stuff that I don't know how the hell they confuse it. People are stupid and there is always a group bound to confuse crap no matter how clear you make it out to be.

What came first, the chicken or the egg. IDK how fox got to give the show that name in the first place if there would be a confusion issue.

Sounds bogus to me. Screw FOX and their (mostly) crappy shows.

wow i dont really care too much for a sequel to the game or even a re-release but this is really F-ed up. its as if they think their Killer Instinct show from fox is still relevant. I do have one question though. even if the show was relevant, how would this negatively affect Fox?

My heart is shattered.

Just change the name of the game... That's it.

Due to a Fox crappy show having taken the name now it will be a bigger pain in the ass to get killer insctinct. That is retarded. It should have been the other way around since Killer instinct came first, but then I can hear the voice of an anal bureaucrat saying b.s. that paperwork had to be renewed and blah blah blah.

Then Call it "The Real Killer Instinct"

TROLOLOLOLOLO

@18 I'm guessing the show was able to obtain the trademark in 2005 because Microsoft wasn't using the trademark since 1996, and even though techincally a federal trademark should last 10 years, your required to file an affidavit between the fifth and six years stating that the trademark is still in use. Clearly Microsoft didn't do that so if no affidavit is filed, the registration is cancelled.

Or maybe they can call it KI: Killer Instinct. Something like that.

Instinct of Killers 2013 AE Turbo: Chrono Phantasma

SO how in gods name exactly did that retarded "wipeout" sh*t ever hit f*cking TVs and Wal-Mart?
<--disgruntled

How was this information obtained? Not troll post Just curious how people be getting their hands on information when it comes to stuff like patents and domain registrations.

WTF seriously...

This is ******* stupid! That TV show didn't even finished their first season and the show got canned before the season ended so you know that retarded TV show flopped and doesn't deserves to be trademark. You can ask thousand people and nobody doesn't even know that TV show existed.

Oh hey, there you are Government! Didn't see ya there. Caught any druglords lately?

Y'know, since you're here, I should tell you that my cousin's school has been having a lot of maintenance problems for the last few years, and it would be great if...

...wait, where are you going!?

@25 Thanks for the info, I didn't know that. Now I wish they wouldn't be such stiflers about all this. Come on, the show is over 5 years old and from what I read did really bad.

Glad they got refused, seeing rare's record so far on microsoft I don't feel like this would have been good.
Now call me when primal rage 2013/14 is annouced to be possibly in the works.

funny thing: never heard of that fox show.... and not going to take the time to google it now either. a lot of ppl are going to be disappointed to hear this news.

Kuli Insult.

C-c-c-c-c-c Copy Right infringement!

P-p-p-p-p-p Patient Laws!

Lol, funny stuff.

How I long to hear KIIIIIING COMBO! BLASTER COMBO!

Ultimate, Ultimate, Ultimate, Ultimate, Ultimate......:)

They can always go the Soul Calibur route. Its just a name.

#39

It was Ultra, ultra, ultra...

Oh and they're also called PATENT laws.

Have none of you ever played KI? Or are all you little babies just feeding off nostalgia?

KI was terrible, there's a reason people don't play it and why it doesn't show up even as a small side event at tournaments. That game was broken and buggy as hell (just like MK). Hell at least umk3 still gets love.

Let me break it down for you from what I can remember. Anything after 4 hits is breakable, that means the characters with the strongest unbreakable combos (spinal doing close to 40% iirc) are the best. So now we get a turtle fest in a game with no neutral game or footsies. Man this game is so deep.

You're all a bunch of sheep, I want the cvs2 days back where people played because they wanted to be good, and people went to gatherings and events for that purpose, not to "hang out" or "have fun".

Like if the show was even popular than a videogame in the 90s that people are still talking about today. -____-

Hope Fox's rating plummet, i have no idea who is watching TV at this point, i stopped watching TV since 2009.

Hopefully a reboot and a name change would clear up this nonsense.

That is some ol' bull$h!t! Especially since the original games came before that unrelated TV show. This might be a question for UltraDavid, but since this series was already established with this name in the '90's, couldn't they keep the name due to that history? Or even counter-sue Fox for taking that name for the show on the same grounds?

You know I don't mind any which way if KI is rebooted or not, It would be total nostalgia for me if a reboot was made, I played this game for fun, and fun only no doubt...

But I just wonder what kind inconveince would a reboot cause for a person like you intehweeds?

like are you a Microsoft financial consultant who's been warning that forecasts show this game will be trash and total waste of time and resources for the company?

Or will this game take away space in your home because you are required by law to purchase any and every fighting game ever made and play them?

Or does it upset you eveytime a game is made for the purpose of "fun".. (which personally I thought was the whole purpose of even inventing video games).

IDK, you just sound too "extra" for lack of better words. You miss the cvs2 days when people played games because they wanted to be good? well I was around for those days and me and my friends played CVS2 to "have fun" and to "hang out"...

@18, 25: Technically speaking, Killer Instinct was TM'd back in 1994 when the first game came out in arcades. So the 10 year lapse would occur in 2004, which was a year before Fox's "Killer Instinct" was TM'd in 2005.

Remember, MS bought RARE in 2002.

So yes, either way it was MS/Rare's fault for not renewing the KI TM.

I swear Killer Instinct is a popular phrase outside copyrighting and such ..... this is such Injustice ! .... Google the Phrase Killer Instinct and you'll come up with tons of results for Rare's classic and almost none for Fox's Show ... even google knows the true path !!

Any this is a sad day .... I wanted other western companies to join Netherealms in making fighting games ..... Killer Instinct was the next best candidate and probablm the most suitable fighting gma eto do a crossover with Mortal Kombat too .... boo Fox .... boo

They can add subtext to Killer Instinct like every other sequel do.

I played both Killer Instinct for SNES and Killer Instinct Gold for N64 when I was small and I loved them both... however, I was never really able to play them competetively since nobody around was any good at it.

I would love to see this game renewed. Even if what #43 says is true, it doesn't have to mean that a new episode in the series would be as bad, or even bad at all. And a good online mode would make global serious play possible, much more possible than back in the days.

I'm super excited for this title, both KI games had awesome atmospheres (in KI for SNES, the atmosphere reminds me of Super Metroid for some reason, which is a huge +), great music, cool characters, awesome combos and epic "combo-announcers". I loved everything about it. There's a possiblity the gameplay wasn't extremely good, but I'm convinced it CAN be with a renewal of the franchise.

There's nothing to be negative about i.m.o., except for this super ridiculous TM "issue".

god dammit

#41, it was an ultimate when you killed someone within a combo, ultras were just the more well known way to end a fight. I was a big fan of the arcade versions (people hated wasting quarters against me, lol) & owned both console versions (still upset I never got that arcade perfect pt 1 that I bought the N64 for) & hearing that I might not get to even see it in Xbox live arcade is a bummer. Yes the originals were broken messes but they were fun (well the 1st more than the 2nd was to me) & I'm sure a new installment with a more in depth system could very well be possible and enjoyable, no need for anyone to bash on the possibility of a brand new game.

@41

Sorry hommie, the game had Ultimate combos as well.

But you're correct, I did mean to spell Patent! Was just going a bit too fast.

I'll forgive your ignorance if you forgive my spelling error:P

They could change the name? Or call up Fox?