Renegade Studios Sends C&D To Stop Small Creator Using The Word 'Renegade'

Every few years in the TTRPG industry, this happens--a company attempts to prevent others from using certain words in their product names. Normally, that's a trademark issue and perfectly understandable: you can't call your game 'Dungeons & Dragons' for obvious reasons. But sometimes companies call in the lawyers to stop usage of common words or terms which are not trademarks in themselves. Games Workshop and 'space marine' hit mainstream news about 10 years ago, Lone Wolf issued C&Ds over the term 'army builder' in 2010, and now Renegade Game Studios--which makes a number of licensed TTRPGs such as Transformers, GI Joe, and Vampire: The Masquerade--has apparently laid claim to the word 'renegade'. This often results in the Streisand Effect and has the opposite result to that intended.

The Polyhedral Knights had a recent Kickstarter for a game called 'Renegade City' which is billed as a tabletop RPG where you play criminals, and uses dominoes rather than dice. According to Cannibal Halfling Gaming, a couple of days ago The Polyhedral Knights received a letter from Renegade Game Studios' lawyers demanding that they remove the word 'Renegade' from the title of the game.

“Unfortunately, your use of the term “Renegade” in the title of your new game creates the likelihood that consumers might be confused between our client’s games and your game, or believe that the two are connected or affiliated. The likelihood of confusion is particularly acute because you are using the “Renegade” element on the identical types of products that are sold by Renegade, and you are both selling to the same types of consumers in the same market channels. As such, Renegade must ask that you agree to rename your game to remove the “Renegade” element. As such, Renegade must ask that you agree to rename your game to remove the “Renegade” element.”

Renegade Game Studios has allegedly threatened to issue a trademark complaint to Kickstarter (although the campaign is over, so it's a little late for that!) unless The Polyhedral Knights complies by June 23rd.

Mickey Barfield, the creator of Renegade City, spoke to Cannibal Halfling Gaming a couple of days ago:

“It really caught me off guard and frankly upset me. I am blown away at how they can think that my game title “Renegade City” will take away from them in any shape or fashion. Our Kickstarter is about to end in 9 hours [3:08 PM EDT] and we just now get this? I’m still pretty hurt over this. It seems like if they are willing to go after me over something like this, then what is stopping another company like Wizards of the Coast from going after some other company cause the word Wizard is used in a title of a book or game? It’s crazy.”

The news first broke on Twitter when Sprinting Owl Designs reported that "a designer I've previously worked with (The Polyhedral Knights) reports that he just got cease and desisted by Renegade Game Studios (Hunter 5e, GI Joe) for having the word 'renegade' in his game's title."

 

[zooey]

Renegade’s intent is only to protect its brand and prevent any direct or indirect confusion. In this specific case, the game in question bares an extremely strong resemblance to an intellectual property not owned or licensed by Renegade Game Studios. Even an accidental affiliation, today or in the future, is something we would prefer to avoid. Our intent was to prevent any such confusion well before any issues arise and while there is still time to make changes before their production begins.

Not buying it. If you were so concerned about confusion at this level, you wouldn't have picked a normal vocabulary word as your company's name, especially not one that was already in use in the titles of many games. I had no impression of your company before this. Now I have a very negative one.

 

[doctorhook]

To me, it's like how Smuckers' lawyers went after a bakery for making crustless white bread, since they'd trademarked PB&J without crusts

I had to Google this to see if it was real. Yikes!

 

[Maggan]

Well I live and I learn. I just learned that Twitter allows accounts to hide replies. For example, Renegade is now hiding replies on their Twitter posts mentioning this legal move. Well, the whole thing might slip below the radar if people won't learn about it, so I guess that's a viable strategy. Not the one I'd have chosen, but then again I wouldn't have sent a C&D either, so there's that.

 

[Haiku Elvis]

Well I live and I learn. I just learned that Twitter allows accounts to hide replies. For example, Renegade is now hiding replies on their Twitter posts mentioning this legal move. Well, the whole thing might slip below the radar if people won't learn about it, so I guess that's a viable strategy. Not the one I'd have chosen, but then again I wouldn't have sent a C&D either, so there's that.

You must have made a mistake! Surely a company that is such a beacon of freedom of speech as Twitter wouldn't allow the Truth to be hidden.
Is there no large corporate entity/ billionaire's vanity project I can rely on in this crazy world?

 

[mcmillan]

Someone posted a game jam on itch.io for games with the title including “renegade” The Renegade RPG Jam

 

[zooey]

I'll say this: Having thought about it a bit more, i can imagine why a company would feel like they need to do this, even if it also feels like paranoid overkill, and not cool in the least. Running a business will make you paranoid. Still leaves a negative impression on me, as it still smacks of punching down. I'd still say that it's each company's responsibility to make its own trademarks distinctive, and not to police other companies because of what yet another company may or may not do. Hopefully that is less self-righteous than my first post, but i don't like it.

 

[Jer]

Renegade’s intent is only to protect its brand and prevent any direct or indirect confusion. In this specific case, the game in question bares an extremely strong resemblance to an intellectual property not owned or licensed by Renegade Game Studios. Even an accidental affiliation, today or in the future, is something we would prefer to avoid. Our intent was to prevent any such confusion well before any issues arise and while there is still time to make changes before their production begins.

Dude.

Dude.

If you're really from Renegade for the love of Rao let your comms team handle stuff like this. Do not post on your own on an internet forum to try to clarify your company's position. It's literally the worst possible thing you can do from a corporate perspective.

And if you don't have a comms team get one. And in the future BEFORE you send C&D orders to people run it through your comms people so they know what the company line is and how to respond to anyone asking about the legal action you're taking and so they can prepare for the inevitable social media nonsense that will be occurring.

(And that's without even getting into the merits of the "why" you posted which, oof. Claiming ownership of a common word is going to get you all of the bad PR you could want and even if it turns out that it's legally upheld you're still going to be mocked about it forever. And for what? An indie Kickstarter that most folks haven't heard of that is possibly infringing on a design that you don't even own? For real? Let Rockstar fight their own battles and take the potential PR hit.)

 

[RivetGeekWil]

Renegade’s intent is only to protect its brand and prevent any direct or indirect confusion. In this specific case, the game in question bares an extremely strong resemblance to an intellectual property not owned or licensed by Renegade Game Studios. Even an accidental affiliation, today or in the future, is something we would prefer to avoid. Our intent was to prevent any such confusion well before any issues arise and while there is still time to make changes before their production begins.

Until just now, the name of the company publishing G.I. Joe, Transformers, etc. had not lodged itself in my brain. Now it irrevocably has done so. So who tell me who did the damage to your brand?

 

[S'mon]

Renegade’s intent is only to protect its brand and prevent any direct or indirect confusion. In this specific case, the game in question bares an extremely strong resemblance to an intellectual property not owned or licensed by Renegade Game Studios. Even an accidental affiliation, today or in the future, is something we would prefer to avoid. Our intent was to prevent any such confusion well before any issues arise and while there is still time to make changes before their production begins.

This is a very strange motivation for your C&D. Did you talk with an IP lawyer?

Re Rockstar, well the game is using their trade dress, but most jurisdictions require origin confusion, not just a calling to mind. It seems pretty clear to me that the game is not Grand Theft Auto or an authorised version so I suspect it may be ok. Here in England the claim would be Passing Off, which requires a Misrepresentation. Conversely trade mark infringement is an easier claim, especially for famous Marks.

 

[Dire Bare]

While it is true companies do have to protect trademarks it is abused as an excuse for so much overreach. Especially when it can be done fairly and appropriately.
See the below for a company pursuing a valid trademark issue reasonably.

Percy Pig ice cream renamed after 'polite' M&S request

Wow!

That did not happen in the US . . . that's for sure! We're not that nice.