So Fox and Blizzard are fighting over the Diablo trademark.
In short Fox is trying to register “Diablo” for a name of a dog in their newest show “HouseBroken”. Which I’m not gonna lie, looks like a Family Guy rip off that would not last very long.
So Blizzard is all like “hell no, this would confuse people”. So now a legal battle has started.
Source: https://gamersgrade.com/diablo-character-sparks-a-trademark-fight-between-blizzard-and-fox/
Personally I am not gonna take sides here. I am not a big fan of Fox but on the other hand Blizzard is probably overreacting.
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Because they got a game called Diablo that have existed in Blizzards univers for 2 decades now then they wont allow them to take that name for themself.
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TBH I am not really sure how these things work. So if Fox wins, Blizzard will have to change the name of Diablo? I just assumed there will be two different Diablos.
So not in the actual title but as a character’s name in the show?
I fail to see the problem.
Also technically speaking wouldn’t the word Diablo fall in the same category as words you cannot copyright such as the word Sky? Diablo is a spanish word though so perhaps not?
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I always thought it should be, but I guess not.
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It might cause issues if Blizzard wants to make merch.
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I always try to be.
Yea my communication is meh
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No your good I just like how many people say it now a days.
Just pay attention to it. Its really funny
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This sounds stupid and I would like that Blizzard loses this fight. My vote goes for Fox!
Even though you’re right, but it is still wrong. I mean the name “Diablo” is a shorten version of “Diabolus”, which means “The devil”.
My only thought is that with Diablo 4 coming out “Soon”, Blizzard/Activision may be extra paranoid about copyright infringement. In my opinion, this is a make or break release for them, and if it flops, or if people are confused about what is being referred to, any potential new projects could be in grave jeopardy.
I am in no way suggesting I agree with the lawsuit, just speculating on their reasoning.
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I’m not a fan of Fox but gotta give this to them. Last I checked Diablo is the spanish name for “the devil”, and no one has intellectual rights over the name.
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This is such a dumb thing to fight over. Who the flying hell is going to confuse a fictional dog with a video game franchise?
The context is completely different and as such, regardless of how Fox’s new show is probably going to suck and get cancelled after 2 seasons - I hope Fox wins.
Actiblizzard are completely obtuse. Might as well try trademarking the name James while you’re at it. shakes head in disgust
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Well if this is how this all works I’m going to make a game called Jesus and copyright that.
But it doesn’t work that way. And copyright is damned stupid anyway.
Actually Mephistopheles is a much cooler name, Blizzard only has Mephisto so suck it.
Likely pre-emptive, so everything is made clear from the start. Otherwise Fox might try to make a case a few years down the line that the Diablo series is getting associated with their character names and force Blizzard to change it. Will either end with the name of the dog being changed, or a ruling making it clear that Diablo is a common term so cannot be trademarked by anyone.
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just toss an ‘el’ before or a ‘os’ at the end like everyone else that isn’t marvel comics.
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Yeah. Between demons and dogs, I’m never sure which I should pray to.
No, if they win, it sets a precedent for other people to name their character Diablo and say screw you to Blizzard.
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Blizz has no case in here, and I doubt it will advance.
They literally can’t sue for the sake of the name alone, nor the concept of the character, they didn’t invented it, nor the name nor the character (the devil), it is a common foreign noun (properly Spanish after Latin, but other languages may also use it), it is also a common-use, so to speak, term and concept (since they literally can’t trademark the devil, as I said, it doesn’t belong to Blizz… … … even if one could question lately who is running them! 
). Long story short, they have no rights over it.
What they have rights over, though, would be a roguelike videogame character named Diablo that also looks like Blizz’s Diablo in some key elements (only key elements, they can’t claim use of “horns” per example, or lizardly-appearance, nor that it lives in hell and so on). But that’s the only case they could make at most.
So if this other dog Diablo is a cartoon for a comedy sitcom, Blizzard literally has no word on it. And would only end up embarrassing themselves to fight over it.
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I’m by no means an expert on trademark laws/regulations/whatever, but as others have said, I doubt Blizz has any claim on the word.
Others already mentioned that “Diablo” is literally spanish for “Devil”, and I’m pretty sure you can’t just copyright words (unless you made them up, like how Tolkien had the copyright on the word “Hobbit”).
Furthermore, David Brevik has said in many interviews that the name came from a real place in California (Mount Diablo), so they have even less claim 'cause it’s the name of a place.
It’s like this comment:
But trying to copyright the word “Rushmore” or “Everest” or “Fuji”, etc.
All that said, I’m pretty sure Fox can’t copyright the word either.
They can trademark the name in association with the specific character, though (I think), and Blizz has no say on that (nor should they have a say).
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Since one of the original devs has said where the name came from i dont think they can copyright it. funny thing about copyright law though, if you hope to have any claim to it you have to defend it at every turn, because once its gone, its gone forever.
Lots of big brand names do this. Heck sometimes they even use it as a publicity stunt for the free media time (Nike is the most recent to come to my mind). I honestly cant care. Corporations are being a*holes to one another…oh NOES! anyway…
