Activision in trademark dispute over Warzone strategy game

The creator of browser-based strategy game Warzone doesn’t think it’s fair that Activision gets to trademark Warzone just because the mega-publisher registered it first.

According to PC Gamer, Activision applied to trademark the terms Warzone and Call of Duty: Warzone back in June 2020, a couple of months after the free-to-play battle royale released. About four months later, they were sent a cease-and-desist letter by Fizzer, the creator of a free-to-play strategy game, also called Warzone (released in 2017), who was attempting to register the very same Warzone trademark – a bold move.

Fizzer’s complaint suggests that Activision’s trademark of Warzone has caused “the relevant consuming public” to become “confused, mistaken or deceived” as a result and that they would like to recover appropriately massive monetary relief. Activision responded that “Call of Duty: Warzone could not be more different from Defendant’s game, a low-budget, niche virtual board game like Hasbro’s Risk” and “it is inconceivable that any member of the public could confuse the two products or believe that they are affiliated with or related to each other.”

Ouch.

Usually, it’s the giant game publisher attempting to quash the dreams of lowly indie titles with this sort of trademark dispute, not the other way around. It’s unlikely that Fizzer’s complaint will result in anything, although it will probably get the Warzone.com landing page a few more clicks.

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