Huh? Bloodborne's trademark abandoned a day before launch

It seems Sony can't stop abandoning its trademarks — even the day before one of its products launches.

The trademark for Bloodborne is one of five now listed as abandoned by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office — likely another error on Sony's part. A month ago, the trademark for The Last Guardian lapsed because Sony had not responded to the office's request to file an extension on what is called an Intent to Use application. A change in Sony's legal staff appeared to be the problem.

Bloodborne launched today for PlayStation 4. Sony's trademark was granted Aug. 19, 2014, and was listed as abandoned yesterday. Kill Strain, the free-to-play MOBA for PS4 that Sony unveiled at PlayStation Experience in December, was among four other marks also listed as abandoned. The others are No Heroes Allowed: No Puzzles Either!, "How Games Were Made to Sound" (a slogan for headphones) and Guns Up!.

Polygon has reached out to a Sony representative to ask what gives this time. It's very unlikely Sony would abandon a trademark one day before it publishes a game. It'll probably make a new filing to revive the mark, as it did with The Last Guardian last week.

At any rate, this doesn't affect Bloodborne's launch or sale one whit. Our review of Bloodborne still is in the works, but for more, see these impressions culled from the first 40 hours of gameplay and watch our 14-minute Overview below.