Ubisoft says it is working to reinstate the ‘Watch Dogs’ trademark

Don’t worry. Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs is still in the works.

Earlier today, a gamer on the message board NeoGAF discovered that Ubisoft had “abandoned” the trademark for its upcoming open-world hacking game Watch Dogs. It turns out that Ubisoft did not actually make that request, and it is now claiming that someone fraudulently submitted the claim. The publisher has now told GamesBeat that it is working to get the trademark back. The development of Watch Dogs is going ahead unaffected.

“We are working directly with the U.S. [patent and trademark office] on reinstating the trademark for Watch Dogs, and it will be active again in the coming days,” said a Ubisoft spokesperson. “The matter has no impact on the Watch Dogs’ development.”

Ubisoft originally filed for the Watch Dogs trademark in June 2012. Earlier this month, the USPTO updated the filing to note that Ubisoft had filed an “express abandonment.” That request to cease ownership of the trademark was apparently a part of an attempt to defraud the USPTO, according to Ubisoft.

Ubisoft today filed a petition with the USPTO to indicate that it never asked for the abandonment. The express filing was signed by Ubisoft chief executive Yves Guillemot, but the company claims that was a forgery.

“The Request for Express Abandonment purports to be signed by the chief executive officer of Ubisoft Entertainment, Yves Guillemot,” reads the petition. “Mr. Guillemot, however, did not sign the request for express abandonment, nor did Ubisoft Entertainment file the request.”

We’ve reached out to the USPTO to find out how something like this could happen and what kind of punishment the person who filed this claim could potentially face.

In a tweet to fans, Ubisoft confirmed that its developers are polishing Watch Dogs right now.

https://twitter.com/griffmeister69/statuses/430424066986889217