Game maker Take-Two Interactive has filed a lawsuit against Max Payne maker Remedy Entertainment, citing copyright infringement. Take-Two claims that Remedy Entertainment’s "R" Remedy logo is too similar to Rockstar’s "R" logo.
Remedy Entertainment announced two new logos to the public in April 2023. One was a stylized R logo while the other featured the word Remedy underneath and both logos have a white letter R in a black box with different colored variations also pitched. When launching the redesign, Remedy Entertainment’s Communications Director Thomas Puha stated the company was redesigning the logo after 20 years because the old design featured a bullet that represented the Max Payne era. Since then, the developer has launched other successful games including Alan Wake, Quantum Break, and Control. Pula said that the new logo better represents the company’s new direction.
But, as reported by Respawn First, the redesigned logo has led to Take-Two Interactive filing a trademark dispute stating that the logo, which was submitted to Intellectual Property Offices in the UK and EU in 2023, is too similar to the Rockstar logo and that the similarities would cause confusion with gamers. The disputes were filed in the UK in May 2023, a month after the redesigned Remedy Entertainment logo was unveiled to the public. As yet, there has been no resolution to the dispute.
This isn’t the first time Take-Two has taken umbrage with potential copyright infringement. It filed a copyright claim to prevent Hazelight Studios from registering a trademark for It Takes Two, claiming that the game’s name was too close to Take Two's brand name and would cause confusion. As a result, Hazelight gave up trying to register the title as a trademark.
There is some similarity between the two logos, as both feature the letter R as their primary asset. But Remedy Entertainment claims that the style of the R is in keeping with games like Control and hints at the time-shifting and time-altering mechanics employed in Remedy’s games.
What makes Take-Two Interactive’s claims against the Max Payne maker more unusual is that Take-Two and Remedy are currently working together to launch remakes of the first two Max Payne titles. The remakes are set to launch on next-gen consoles, but there has been no confirmation of release dates yet. This working relationship, and the pair's history of working together, is unlikely to have any bearing on the copyright infringement.
