The developers of Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons and A Way Out filed the trademark application for It Takes Two in May of 2020, and notice of the trademark was published on September 29th. Other parties then have 30 days to file an objection to the trademark. Take-Two Interactive, however, filed for two 90-day extensions to this period, on October 26th, 2020 and January 27th, 2021. These documents are available on the publicly searchable USPTO website. Hazelight then abandoned the trademark application on March 25th, 2021, one day before It Takes Two was released. Being denied a trademark application, or abandoning one, doesn’t prevent Hazelight from continuing to use the It Takes Two name if they wish. It does mean that Hazelight can’t use trademark as a means of preventing other companies using the same or similar names. Lawyer and legal commentator Richard Hoeg pointed out on Twitter that Take-Two are unusually aggressive in filing extension requests, stacking up “25 challenges in the last months.” These include challenges against Rockstar Axe Throwing, a Florida-based axe-throwing company, and clothing brand Max Fayne. You can find all these challenges on the USPTO website. Here’s a pitch: maybe Hazelight and Take-Two could work their differences out if only they played It Takes Two together, a game in which a squabbling couple must work together after being into tiny dolls. Alice B called it a fun way to tell a boring story in her review - and what’s more boring than legal proceedings.
