Lucasfilm is currently locked in a court battle with iOS game maker Ren Ventures over their version of a Sabacc game for iOS which they released in 2015. Ren Ventures claims that Lucasfilm cannot copyright a fictional service such as the fictional game of Sabacc. Lucasfilm counter that the game has been represented in numerous mediums over the past 40 years.
“Plaintiffs allege trademark use of ‘Sabacc’ by using it as the name of a fictional card game within Star Wars films, movies, and other expressive works,” writes attorney James Rosini. “This is not plausible. Trademarks identify and distinguish the source of goods and services in commerce. As a matter of logic, it is impossible to offer fictional goods and services in commerce because they do not exist.”
Ren points to the dispute between Fortres Grand and Warner Bros. over the “Clean Slate” software referenced in The Dark Knight Rises. There, Warners was accused of “reverse confusion” because Selina Kyle was told in the 2010 film the software didn’t exist, but, in reality, Fortres had been making a product under that name since 2000. Both an Indiana federal judge and the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Warners’ favor.
“Here, Plaintiffs use ‘Sabacc’ in Star Wars films, movies, television shows, comic books, novels, and dictionaries as the name of a card game,” writes Rosini. “However, like the ‘clean slate’ software program in the film The Dark Knight Rises, the ‘Sabacc’ card game in Star Wars expressive works is fictional and, thus, does not exist in commerce. Accordingly, just as ‘clean slate’ did not function as a mark for a fictional software program in The Dark Knight Rise [sic], ‘Sabacc’ does not function as a mark for a fictional card game in Star Wars expressive works.”
A hearing on the motion is set for April 5th.
