Capcom Trademarks the Term “Mega Man”
Here’s something a little bit interesting. A scant three weeks ago, Capcom filed a trademark for “Mega Man” in the US. What could this Mega Man thing be? What do they have up their sleeve? Of course, in all seriousness, it’s not that they never had “Mega Man” trademarked before. It’s common to make multiple trademarks depending on the type of product. This particular trademark covers the following:
Providing computer games to others that may be accessed via the Internet; Providing non-downloadable Internet games to others; Providing electronic games for mobile phones and smart phones via the Internet; Providing images, motion pictures, video games, music videos and music via the Internet; Providing images, motion pictures, video games, music videos and music through communication via mobile phones and smart phones; Electronic publishing services, namely online publication of the text and graphic works of others featuring computer and video games and strategies thereof, not downloadable; Providing on-line non-downloadable newsletters in the field of computer games and video games; Providing on-line non-downloadable electronic publications and documentation, namely articles and reports featuring computer game strategy and video game strategy; [...]
And it just goes on. While I’d just be taking a shot in the dark, I suspect this trademark was filed for the eventual release of Rockman Xover in the west. If you can bother to read through all of that mumbo-jumbo, a lot of it is aimed at delivering games, entertainment and other media via smartphones, mobile devices and the internet. On the other hand, I do find the entries of “Motion picture theater services;” and “Production and distribution of motion pictures in the form of films, video tapes and optical disks;” to be very intriguing.
I’m not going to say this is a hint at some jaw dropping thing to come. With the 25th anniversary on the horizon, Capcom may just be safeguarding the trademark for potential projects down the road. But to those of you saying Capcom isn’t doing anything for Mega Man, better eat your toast! We got a trademark!
Tags: Capcom, Mega Man, trademark
Filed under: Mega Man News
Really hard for me to be intrigued by this when it could just be for Xover.
The movie bit is kinda interesting, but maybe they’re just covering all their bases? (Wonder if Mr. LeBron’s film has anything to do with this)
they applied in a broad category, they may as well apply for all inside of it
“Providing computer games to others that may be accessed via the Internet; ” kind scares me. I’m just being very paranoid, but what if Capcom is gearing up to take down fan games? Our last bastion of hope, games such as Megaman Unlimited could go down in flames! :’(
Though again, I’m probably just being paranoid since Capcom’s never had problems with them before.
this seems to be causing more worry than hope…
just goes to show how people feel about capcom.
everyone heard that they’re cutting time and team for their games now right?
Is this going to put my Top 50 Robot Masters countdown in jeopardy?
Lol, sounds like a reply to those who said that someone else should take care of the franchise; Capcom says “Nnnnnnope! It’s mine! >_<" *grips tightly*.
About fangames there's no worry, as long as those developers don't sell their games they should have no problem, I guess.
Hmm, interesting…
i eat my toast every morning with a fat helping of Capcom is fail imo as a fan from the day MegaMan was created i dont think anything about this Trademark nor do i think it has anything to bring to the US MegaMan wise Xover makes sense but thats the only thing and they would Never think about taking the Ching chong chang out of a MegaMan Video that might exist over there (maybe not who cares at this point) its not like anything Good is coming ever again from MegaMan… just look at Xover i saw more Bad comments and other such ( way to go capcom ) comments that express how bad people feel about the Blue Bomber being Destroyed by Fail programers of course what everyone in the US thinks is meaning less to them im just a REAL-ist if you really think Kissing Capcoms ass is going to get you a Video game you best think again this is the modern age where only market talks to the higher up get your heads out of your ass and be mad like the rest of us and you might get some where Trademark Ds nuts for all i care Capcom go make Devil may cry 100 b/c repeat is the only thing you know how to program and at least MegaMans creator used new game styles layouts new chars new story lines new everything completely MORE the once MegaMan – MegaMan X – MegaMan Legends – MegaMan ZX – MegaMan Battle Network – MegaMan Zero – MegaMan Starforce and so MUCH god damn more Capcom cannot level with this ONE man who they (hired) cough must have been a pitty App and yeah this is a rant but you know what? least im willing to express how things really are to me and not just keep pumping * it will be ok and a new game will come out just support MegaMan and he will make it* P.l.e.a.s.e do not be that retarded anymore see it for what it is and understand your happy lil words mean nothing to a man with a Leather chair a Fat bowl a Rice and about 100 chicks infested with stds you think a man that has that much money cares about your nice words your dumber then i thought comment under this rant so i may laugh later
@Davis
That’s a rather long sentence…
I almost would have preferred they drop the trademark altogether; hand it off to someone who cares.
Not that that’s happened in all of corporate history.
This trademark is standard practice. Nothing to see here.
But having a trademark doesn’t mean anything at all =/ . Capcom are just making sure that no one (‘sides them of course) could make any profit from the ‘Mega Man’ title.
The same thing happened with the “Breath of Fire” series, which is fully copyrighted and trademarked and yet, it’s frozen state for the next decade (or century if Capcom survives that long..) because it wasn’t profitable for them any more. (which is a shame since it was an awesome RPG).
Interesting, im not gonna get my hopes up though. I think we should all treed lightly becasue Capcom has been batting a thousand with disappointment for the past year.
@OrdoRaptus I just watched an hour long video of a Copyright lawyer talking about fanart, and from what I understand Capcom can tell people to stop making fan games already. But it doesn’t seem likely they would
Something tells me that Capcom still cares about Mega Man rather than trashing it. It looks like they’re doing the right thing, I guess?
Megaman has always been Capcom’s mascot.
@Okami Delta: Actually, Capcom has no mascot…but they only clarified this after the MM series hit all those rough spots (so to speak…), so I guess there’s a chance they were just trying to save face or something.
This is pretty much Capcom covering their trademark for mobile development (iOS, Android, etc.) and streaming services like OnLive. Those weren’t part of the original trademarks, so they’re making it easier to take down bootleg games on iTunes.
@RCase:
Other fanbases have been in the dark too.. maybe except that one game featuring Mr. Wright.
Aside from that, Capcom is making sure no bootlegs appear on the store, as people seem to have getting bootlegging mixed up with fangaming lately.
Capcom’s been cool with it as long as you don’t sell the property.
That and capcom is known to make games without the creator’s knowlidge.
I wouldn’t be shock about a movie, They must be making a killing off the Resident Evil films and been looking into making a Monster Hunters movie with the same writer.
Well I’m utterly confused abut this one.
@ericthered
Yeah, Capcom says that they’re releasing shorter deadline to creating their games and pushing the staff to work harder and later some of which had been hospitalized.
Thats right folks Capcom is officially becoming another EA!!!!!
D=
Capcom is already WORSE than EA
I absolutely loved the anime that came with Maverick Hunter X. If they plan to make more videos in the vein of that (not necessarily just the X series), then I’d be all over it.
@ erikthered: [citation needed]
My fear is that my theory of a reboot with Xover seems more possible now. Xover reboots the complete franchise and the result is a game called Mega Man, playing after the events in the new timeline.
But when they reboot the complete franchise with the blue bomber and make a wonderfull game out of it, then everything is OK. But my hope is nearly zero.
@Adaaification: I only have one game title for you:
Bomberman: Act Zero.
Is this going to put my collaborative fanart publication in jeopardy?
@rnn: I believe this is just a formality at most. Unless it’s an explicit attack on their sales or explicit portrayal of characters* anyway.
* Even this is subjective depending on the creators’ stand on such material.
C’mon, gritty photorealistic reboot that’s a hybrid shooter/platformer.
mega man is already a hybrid shooter platformer
You know what else got a trademark once? Chrono Break… Yeah…