The cult UK video game character James Pond has once again found himself in the middle of a trademark battle with Danjaq, the owners of the James Bond IP, according to a new report from the World Trademark Review journalist Tim Lince.
James Pond is a character who first debuted in Vectordean and Millennium Interactive's 1990 title James Pond: Underwater Agent, for Commodore Amiga & Atari ST, and was a parody of James Bond, created by the developer Chris Sorrell. It was later the subject of a Sega Mega Drive / Genesis port, published by Electronic Arts, and, since his first adventure, has gone on to appear in a number of sequels, with James Pond 2: Codename: RoboCod arguably being the most famous of these, due to its abundance of reissues over the years.
Currently, ownership of Pond is shared between two companies, Gameware and System 3, with both companies announcing new projects over the last 12 months, including a couple of follow-up games and a James Pond collection.
However, last year, in a move to protect the brand in "the modern marketplace environment", System 3 filed to trademark the character for use across "a wide range of goods and services, including video game software, clothing, gaming apparatus, and entertainment services" in May, leading Danjaq to oppose the mark.
System 3's founder/CEO told Lince:
“James Pond is a longstanding, well-established and widely recognised video game property dating back to the early 1990s, with its own distinct identity, history and audience in the games market.”
"Over the years, it has been commercially published and distributed through more than 12 partners. That history included major industry names such as Electronic Arts before System 3 acquired the IP rights.”
“System 3 has a substantial catalogue of valuable classic retro game properties that it continues to preserve, restore and bring to modern audiences. As part of that process, formal trademark protection has become increasingly important in the modern marketplace environment, including for brand verification, protection and direct commercial activity on major online platforms. This is therefore not a new or invented brand, but a genuine historic games property with longstanding commercial presence and recognition of 35 years.”
Danjaq didn't respond to World Trademark Review's request for comment, but Lince speculates their "opposition is widely expected to rely on the reputation of the Bond mark and the legal consequences of that status."
The holding company previously opposed a similar trademark application in Europe in 2012, and the EUIPO eventually ended up refusing the mark. In this case, though, the UKIPO is yet to make a decision, with Lince stating the ongoing battle is likely "to test the limits of parody and reputation."
As Lee Curtis, partner and chartered trademark attorney at HGF, tells World Trademark Review, “There is no parody defence as such under UK trademarks law," but Danjaq will have to show the parody is "without due cause, and either takes unfair advantages of the parodied brand or is detrimental to its distinctive character and repute."
According to Curtis, he believes that an important distinction should be made between "challenging the relatively recent attempt to register JAMES POND, and challenging its long-standing use” as "System 3 is in a stronger position in defending its continued use of its trademark than defending its application — the former being longstanding, the latter being new."
The full article can be read here. A huge thank you in order for Tim Lince for sending this along.