Sony and Shift Up sued for trademark infringement over ‘Stellar Blade’

Stellar Blade is making headlines again this week. No, not for the expected announcement of the PC version. Instead, Shift Up, along with Sony, are being sued for trademark infringement, by a film production company that shares the same name as the PS5 game. 

As it turns out, there is already a company with the name ‘Stellarblade LLC', based out of Louisiana in the US. In a Louisiana court, a lawsuit was filed earlier this month, claiming that Shift Up, Sony, and an insurance company used by Sony Interactive Entertainment, are all liable for trademark infringement.

IGN has had a chance to review the court documents, in which Stellarblade LLC owner, Griffith Chambers Mehaffey, states that the Stellarblade trademark has been used since 2010 for “multimedia entertainment services”, including film, documentary, commercial and music video production services. Additionally, Mehaffey states he has owned stellarblade.com since 2006.

When Shift Up first announced its videogame in 2019, it did so under the name ‘Project Eve', before confirming Stellar Blade as the official title in 2022. Then, in January 2023, Shift Up registered Stellar Blade as a trademark.

Due to the high profile game release, customers are no longer able to easily find the Stellarblade production company via search engines like Google. Mehaffey's lawyer said in a statement to IGN that it is “difficult to imagine that Shift Up and Sony were unaware of Mr. Mehaffey's established rights before adopting their identical mark”.

Looking at the stellarblade.com website, it does look to have been created a long time ago, with a design that is reminiscent of the mid 2000s. The company does have a Vimeo page with uploads of examples of its work, which includes things like filming conference talks, convention promos, advertisements for restaurants and bars, as well as some independent films.

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KitGuru Says: This wouldn't be the first time a dispute like this has popped up. Unfortunately, we do typically see the company with the most money coming out on top of these cases, usually with a settlement involved due to the high costs of going to trial. This is something that Sony can afford, but will put high financial pressure on a small business like stellarblade LLC. 

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