Psygnosis Limited was a British video game developer that mostly made PlayStation exclusive games like 3D Lemmings and A Bug’s Life. This trademark hasn’t been used in nearly two decades, and recently business analyst Roberto Serrano spotted that the Psygnosis trademark was renewed by Sony back in December 2021.
This renewal doesn’t necessarily mean that Sony will re-establish the brand. They simply might renew the logo and trademark, so no other individual or company uses the owl trademark of Psygnosis studio.
According to its filling history, the application to register the Psygnosis trademark in North America was made in 1997, and it was officially registered on July 10, 2001. Since the studio was founded in the UK, the trademark was registered in the United Kingdom long before.
Every trademark lasts for 10 years in North America, and after that, the owner of a trademark should send a renewal application. Sony sent the Psygnosis trademark renewal on July 7, 2011, despite the fact that the Psygnosis brand had been dropped in 2000 and replaced with SCE Studio Liverpool.
Then Sony sent the renewal again on July 7, 2021, which was accepted on December 1 that would protect the brand and trademark until 2031. It seems Sony only did the standard procedure of protecting its trademark and brand.
Psygnosis was founded in 1984 and quickly became famous for its series like Lemmings and Shadow of the Beast. Later on, Sony acquired the studio in 1993 and made some early exclusives for PlayStation like Wipeout, Destruction Derby, and Formula 1.
In 2000, Sony changed the studio’s name to SCE Studio Liverpool, which was closed down in 2012. This led to some designers of Psygnosis founding their own small studios. Among them was Firesprite studio that Sony acquired in 2021. This studio is mostly known for its first-person shooter, The Persistence. The studio is currently co-developing Horizon Call of the Mountain for PlayStation VR 2 and the reboot of Twisted Metal series.