No Man’s Sky Settles 3-Year Legal Spat Over Name With Sky TV
The highly hyped adventure survival game known as No Man's Sky will keep its name when it launches later this summer. That may seem like an odd confirmation, but apparently it took "three years of secret stupid legal nonsense" for indie studio Hello Games to secure the right to use the word "Sky" following a legal dispute with Sky TV.
If that sound's familiar, it's because British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSkyB) filed trademark infringement claims against Microsoft in 2014 over its previously named SkyDrive cloud service. BSkyB was successful in lobbying the European Union to force Microsoft to change the service's name, and rather than take the fight to court, it rebranded SkyDrive as OneDrive.
Sky TV ended up merging with BSkyB later that same year to create to the pay broadcast TV operator in the U.K. Now known simply as Sky, the outfit set its sights on Hello Games. Company co-founder revealed as much in a couple of Twitter posts celebrating the resolution, noting that Sky owns the world "Sky."
If that sound's familiar, it's because British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSkyB) filed trademark infringement claims against Microsoft in 2014 over its previously named SkyDrive cloud service. BSkyB was successful in lobbying the European Union to force Microsoft to change the service's name, and rather than take the fight to court, it rebranded SkyDrive as OneDrive.
Sky TV ended up merging with BSkyB later that same year to create to the pay broadcast TV operator in the U.K. Now known simply as Sky, the outfit set its sights on Hello Games. Company co-founder revealed as much in a couple of Twitter posts celebrating the resolution, noting that Sky owns the world "Sky."
Yay! We finally settled with Sky (they own the word "Sky"). We can call our game No Man's Sky. 3 years of secret stupid legal nonsense over
— Sean Murray (@NoMansSky) June 17, 2016
Though this was a "pretty serious" matter, Murray kept his sense of humor about the situation.
"On the plus side, I now know more about trademark law than any sane man would ever want to," Murray tweeted in a followup post. He later surmised that "perhaps this is the real reason Skynet never happened..."
Murray didn't provide details of the settlement, such as how much Hello Games had to pay Sky to keep its name and whether or not royalties are involved.
No Man's Sky is set to launch to PC and PlayStation 4 on August 9, 2016. It features a procedurally generated open universe with over 18 quintillion planets, giving players plenty of opportunity to explore. It's available to pre-order now for $60, and if you do you'll receive the Horizon Omega ship equipped with an upgraded hyperdrive and increased firepower.
"On the plus side, I now know more about trademark law than any sane man would ever want to," Murray tweeted in a followup post. He later surmised that "perhaps this is the real reason Skynet never happened..."
Murray didn't provide details of the settlement, such as how much Hello Games had to pay Sky to keep its name and whether or not royalties are involved.
No Man's Sky is set to launch to PC and PlayStation 4 on August 9, 2016. It features a procedurally generated open universe with over 18 quintillion planets, giving players plenty of opportunity to explore. It's available to pre-order now for $60, and if you do you'll receive the Horizon Omega ship equipped with an upgraded hyperdrive and increased firepower.
