Sony Faces PS5 Trademark Clash in India

The hype for Sony’s new PS5 has been trending for quite some time now, from the beginning of this year Sony has been releasing teasers of the launch of its new PlayStation series and by September 2020, they announced a release date as well! The PS5 is set to be released by 12th November and preorders are currently open. A roadblock, however, that Sony seemed to face was the PS5 trademark issue in India.

As the Sony team moved onto India to trademark their console they came across an awkward situation; the PS5 trademark seemed to have already been taken by an Indian National named Hitesh Aswani, on 29th October 2019 and according to the reports Hitesh had filed for the PS5 trademark three months before Sony filed a patent.

Moreover, this has led to the speculation that the PS5 trademark issue might be the reason behind the delay in launching the PlayStation in India. Sony’s PlayStation 5 will be releasing on November 12th in the US, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea. However, a date for India is yet to be announced. Upon questioning regarding this issue, Sony’s spokesperson for India stated, “Thank you for bringing this to our attention, however, we have no comments at this stage”.

Moreover, their attorney also commented on the PS5 trademark conflict, he dismissed the idea of any delays in the launch and said, “This appears to be highly unlikely,” he explains. “Sony has a series of trademark registrations in India starting from PS to PS4, and PS5 is nothing but a legitimate brand extension on Sony’s part.”

Moreover, experts are saying that even though Hitesh filed for the trademark beforehand, and he seems to be prepared to take Sony to court over the PS5 trademark conflict. Many experts from related fields have said that Sony has the upper hand in this scenario since they do own the entire brand and have established a presence in India by releasing several consoles previously, this gives Sony more priority.

Shailendra Bhandare, a partner at Khaitan & Co, claims, “This per se does not pose any major obstacle for Sony’s use of the name in India, given the widespread use and recognition of its PS series of marks in India over the years.”

This highlights the importance and the need for brands to trademark their products in advance to avoid any chances of trademark squatters and prevent the reoccurrence of issues like the PS5 trademark issue.

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