The game developer Fntastic has been forced to delay the release of their game "The Day Before" due to a trade mark dispute with a third party. Although the developer appears to have correctly checked for the availability of the name before announcing the game title, they subsequently failed to apply to protect the name as a trade mark, allowing a third party to obtain registered protection instead once the title was made public. Steam have now blocked the "The Day Before" game page on their platform at the behest of the registered trade mark owner, assumingly on the basis of alleged trade mark infringement.
Although an expense, the importance of obtaining registered trade mark protection before going public with and/or using the title for a new release should not be underestimated. In the long run, this simple mistake is likely to prove more costly to Fntastic.
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