This trademark dispute between Remedy and Take-Two is brought to you by the letter R

This is a weird one: Back in April 2023, Remedy Entertainment unveiled a new logo, a stylized «R» it said represented «a fresh and refined look» for the studio. But, as discovered by Respawn First, Take-Two Interactive has filed oppositions to Remedy's trademark application in the UK and EU, claiming a «likelihood of confusion» with its Rockstar Games logo.

(Rockstar, for those not aware, is owned by Take-Two.)

Remedy filed for the new trademark with the EU's Intellectual Property Office on April 13, 2023, one day ahead of its public announcement. It then filed with the UK's IPO a month later, on May 11, and with the US Patent and Trademark Office on May 24. 

Take-Two registered its opposition with the EU IPO on July 26, 2023, and then with the UK on September 12. The US PTO doesn't currently indicate whether any opposition has been filed: That trademark application is currently «awaiting assignment to an examining attorney.»

The text of Take-Two's opposition filing on the EU's Intellectual Property Office website claims a «likelihood of confusion [or] unfair advantage/detriment to distinctiveness or repute.» It doesn't reference Rockstar specifically, but an image of the logo is included with a separate filing in support of the claim.

I am not a trademark lawyer, but honestly, I don't see it:

What makes the situation strange, at least from the standpoint of a casual observer, is that Remedy and Take-Two have a long-standing and presumably amicable relationship. Take-Two acquired the rights to Max Payne in 2002, after which Rockstar published the Remedy-developed Max Payne 2 in 2003 before developing and releasing Max Payne 3 itself—with Remedy's endorsement—in 2012. In 2022, Remedy and Rockstar announced plans to remake the first two Max Payne games, a project that's still in development. Given that well-established working relationship, it seems a little weird to me that they'd butt heads over whether or not this R looks too much like that R.

There's a reasonable