At the end of the last month came something of an unexpected and strange development. It seemed as if for several years Warner Bros. was trying to trademark the ‘Nemesis System’ that was seen in their Lord of the Rings game adaptation from Monolith Productions, Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. You can read more about that through here. Now it seems WB has gotten their wish.
As reported via IGN, it seems as if after all this time trying, the US Patent and Trademark Office finally issued notice they had approved the patent of the Nemesis system. The approval itself happened on February 3rd with the actual patent going into full effect on February 23rd.
This effectively means that now WB owns the rights to the game system and its functions. That means no one else would be legally able to use a system that functions in the same way or would have to license it directly from Warner Bros. In theory, another studio could create a system like this, but it would have to work in a different way than how this one does. So, it seems, until 2035, WB has the Nemesis system as we know it on lock.
