#i've spent so long trying to edit my grammar mistakes and all that bs

[easilyconflicted]

We Might Still Get Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, and Wind Waker for the Switch

 ***Disclaimer: I am not a trademark lawyer. I am only a regular person trying to make sense of the numbers. I am not making a formal stance as I may be reading the information wrong.***

***Warning: This is going to be very long with lots of pictures.***

A lot of people are bummed about there not being a Zelda All-Stars for the 35th anniversary. Some are even thinking that Skyward Sword HD is all we’ll get since it is already so close to the anniversary. But I’m here to say that we could probably still get it, or at least Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, and Wind Waker separately. Here’s why I think that and it’s the same reason why I knew Skyward Sword was coming: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). You can also find the same information on the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) database.

What’s so important about trademarks? I don’t know, but I know they are important enough that the government is involved with regulating it. All I know it essentially means you have ownership over that mark. Remember when the Fine Bros tried to trademark “React”? (link) The USPTO and WIPO database are public to search for any trademarks in any category.

A few months ago when people were starting to guess what Nintendo was going to come out with for the Zelda 35th anniversary, I happened to remember that you can use the USPTO database to figure out if a new product was coming out. I decided to look some things up. The first thing I searched was Skyward Sword. **Tumblr ruined the quality of the images, but if you click on it, the quality should be better.

Edit: Clicking on the image will NOT work if you are on desktop and directly on my blog because Tumblr sucks. You can right click and hit view image, but that will take you from the page. You can also zoom in with your browser controls if you don’t want to go back and forth between my page. Both options may still be hard to read, so right clicking, view image, then zoom may be be the best option.

A trademark for Skyward Sword? With the priority date (apparently when Nintendo filed in a different country), filing date (apparently when Nintendo filed application in the U.S.), and registration date (apparently when USPTO allowed it) all being in 2020? And in the “recorded electronic game programs; downloadable electronic game programs; recorded video game programs; downloadable video game programs; video game cartridges; and much more categories” categories and more? Why would a divisive game that is a decade old get a trademark in 2020? So that’s how I knew the game was coming to the Switch.

So what about the other games?

Ocarina of Time?

Also a 2020 trademark under the same category that Skyward Sword was in. Should note that the priority and filing dates are in 2020, but the registration date is in 2021.

Majora’s Mask?

Same as Oot and SS, but we have some differences. Priority and filing dates are in 2020, but there is no registration date. It does have published for opposition listed for 2021.

Wind Waker?

Same position as MM. Priority and filing dates are in 2020, but there is no registration date. It does have published for opposition listed in 2021.

Twilight Princess? *Spoiler: It doesn’t seem promising.

Yeah the years on this are 2007/2008. It does have a renewal date in 2018, but it is listed under the category of compact discs and other distinct categories. The other ones are under downloaded games or video cartridges categories. There seems to be no overlap.

Off topic, but when I search twilight princess, only two things pop up: TP’s trademark and that huge monstrosity of a filing. Like look at how many words they tried to trademark?! And it’s from one person! Edit: Turns out it is around 660 words! Apparently she went to court about it, too, if you are curious. (link) Back on topic.

I should note that I could not find a separate listing for Zelda All-Stars, but I also can’t find a separate listing for Mario All-Stars. Only Sunshine has a 2020 trademark listing; 64 has a 1996/2000 trademark with a 2020 renewal and Galaxy has a 2006/2007 one with a 2017 renewal. Again, I may be reading a lot of things wrong here. All that’s on the USPTO database; I’m getting more info on the WIPO. 

On WIPO, I did not find listings for Mario or Zelda All-Stars. 64′s active trademarks are from the late 90′s. Sunshine has 2020 trademarks. Galaxy has some active 2018 trademarks but not in the US. So It seems like there is some differing info. Let’s see about the Zelda games.

Skyward Sword has 2020 trademarks with some pending in Canada (CA), New Zealand (NZ), etc and some active in Australia (AU), Japan (JP), United States (US), etc. All filed under video game categories similar to the ones listed with USPTO and Skyward Sword’s trademark. Not surprised it is active in the US because if we compare it to the USPTO, SS has a registration date (when USPTO allowed Nintendo’s trademark).

Ocarina of Time has 2020 trademarks with some pending in CA, NZ, etc and some active in AU, US, JP, etc. All under video game categories. Not surprised it is active in the US since in the USPTO, it has a registration date.

Majora’s Mask has 2020 trademarks with some pending in CA, NZ, US, etc and some active in JP and AU. All under video game categories. It is pending on WIPO in the US and it also does not have a registration date in the USPTO database.

Wind Waker has 2020 trademarks with some pending in CA, US, NZ, etc and active in JP and AU. All under video game categories. Again, pending in the US and no registration date for the UPSTO.

Twilght Princess has 2006-2008 trademarks with them being active in JP, US, KR (Republic of Korea). All under video game categories.

What does this all mean? We already know that Skyward Sword is coming. So maybe Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, and Wind Waker will be coming soon but I don’t know when. I think pending/registration dates may be a factor as to the timeline, especially in countries with a big gaming demographic. But again, there are still decent size countries with pending status for Skyward Sword, so there may be more to it. I don’t think Twilight Princess will be coming soon considering all the evidence and especially since it was already got ported in 2016 onto the Wii U, but maybe one day TP fans. I have been sitting on the USPTO info for a while and wanted to let somebody know, and now seems like the time.

Again, I am not versed on trademark terminology. Any extra information that isn’t directly from the databases came from a quick google search and my skimmed over analysis of it.

Edit: Ignore the next paragraph. I was an angry gremlin by time I finished this and was venting.

If there are any errors and I was not clear, I have been working on this for five hours. I also realized that WIPO was a thing while making this, so I had to go and research it. Tumblr glitched and ruined half my progress. It is also 5am where I am. I am tired.

But I hope you all learned some new information from this post. Also here are the links for the databases if you want to do your own research.

USPTO (click search our trademark database, I used basic word mark search) : https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/search

WIPO (Just type in the box by text but make sure to delete the search below goods/services if moving on to another search)  : https://www3.wipo.int/branddb/en/