Legal Issues/trademark
The trademark for the Star Fox name was never filed in the United States, but Mythicon, Inc. managed to obtain the trademark in Europe. Ironically, they never used the name in Europe. When the company disbanded in 1983, presumably the trademarks continued to be held by certain Mythicon directors.
Because the trademark had not been filed in the United States, Nintendo was able to release its popular Star Fox game in 1993 on its Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game console, retaining its title without any issues. However, when it came to the European release, the game was renamed Starwing. The problem had not been resolved in time for the 1997 release of Star Fox 64 either, and the game was renamed Lylat Wars in Europe.
Both games continued to use the term "Star Fox" throughout, because only the game title was in question.
Despite early rumors that Star Fox Adventures would be retitled as Starwing Adventures or Dinosaur Planet in Europe, the problem was resolved in time for its release. Since then, all Nintendo Star Fox games have retained their proper titles in Europe, excluding the re-release of Star Fox 64 on Wii's Virtual Console. Despite the fact the issue was isolated in Europe, Nintendo Australia had regardlessly released both Star Fox and Star Fox 64 retaining their European titles, as Starwing and Lylat Wars respectively.
Read more about this topic: Star Fox (1983 Video Game)
Famous quotes containing the words legal and/or issues:
“Narrative prose is a legal wife, while drama is a posturing, boisterous, cheeky and wearisome mistress.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)
“The hard truth is that what may be acceptable in elite culture may not be acceptable in mass culture, that tastes which pose only innocent ethical issues as the property of a minority become corrupting when they become more established. Taste is context, and the context has changed.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)