Well the people in charge of approving trademarks disagree with you.
Brb opening a new restaurant called The Burger King then I'm going to launch The iPhone (the 'The' is part of the name so I'd say the risk of confusion is minimal).
PS the 'meaning' of Wilds is irrelavant. It's the same word.
Meh, nothing a little rebranding can't fix:
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They may still be able to use it even if they can't trademark it. Officially, you can't copyright or trademark a title, at least when it comes to books and movies -- only a brand.
So, for example I could write a book and title it The Chamber of Secrets ... But not use the Harry Potter branding. I wouldn't be able to sell toys under the Chamber of Secrets trademark, either.
I'm sure their lawyers will get it sorted -- but, you may see them use the title but see no merchandise with The Frozen Wilds on it.
Arguably, it isn't the same word - it's almost a homograph, sure, but you can't have a single wild, only the wilds.
Also, the people in charge of approving trademarks haven't heard the appeal yet, so maybe hold the sarcasm until they do?
Incoming reveal for Horizon: The Chilly Woods
i imagine this could have been an absolute nightmare if they had a physical release.
I'm sure the USPTO has been constantly watching out for the highly eminent game Slots: Frozen Wild in case of trademark infringement. They should be proud to have prevented this without any intervention from the highly regarded casino gaming company Huuuge.
You can trademark a video game title. Video games are considered software by the USPTO, not art.
However, it was not until the landmark case of Brown v
Entertainment Merchants Assn (131 S Ct 2729 (2011)) that the US
Supreme Court definitively extended the full protection of the
First Amendment to video games as expressive speech on a par
with plays, films and literature. Specifically, the court stated: Like
the protected books, plays and movies that preceded them, video
games communicate ideas and even social messages through
many familiar literary devices (such as characters, dialogue, plot and
music) and through features distinctive to the medium (such as the
players interaction with the virtual world).