A hacker's fake request to drop the trademark for "Watch Dogs" has be discarded after Ubisoft caught wind of the situation.
According to PC, the a "prankster" filed an application for a trademark abandonment request citing the project will no longer be released to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). The paperwork was filed under Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot's name and information on Feb. 5.
"Here, the circumstances are extraordinary. An unknown party who lacked authority executed the purported abandonment of the application," the USPTO document said, PC reports. "Although the request appears to have been sent by petitioner [Guillemot], petitioner declared that it did not submit the request and has every reason to believe that this filing was fraudulent."
The USPTO has since reinstated Ubisoft's trademark for the "Watch Dogs" tile. The prank did not affect the game's development.
"Watch Dogs" follows the story of Aiden Pearce, a hacker with the ability to tap into Chicago's central computer database which controls everything in the city. Pearce's criminal past leads to a "violent tragedy," in which he travels around in the city to seek justice.
"You'll monitor and hack those around you by manipulating the ctOS from the palm of your hand. You'll access omnipresent security cameras, download personal information to locate a target, control traffic lights and public transportation to stop the enemy and more," the game's official synopsis stated.
"Watch Dogs" was delayed just weeks before its official release in October 2013. In an interview with IGN, Ubisoft's North American president Laurent Detoc explained the studio's decision to delay the game.
"Everybody was looking each other in the eye thinking we would be there at launch," Detoc said. "There were already some lingering doubts, but we were plowing through it. There were more than a thousand people touching that game. Then eventually, a month later, we said, 'this is not gonna fly.' Then it takes a few more weeks to decide how we're going to package that news for everyone."
Ubisoft has not confirmed a release date for "Watch Dogs".
