‘Fallout: Shadow Of Boston’ Trademark Is Yet Another Hoax

The gaming corner of the internet was buzzing earlier today following the discovery of a Fallout: Shadow of Boston trademark. Presumably, this was for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, but it was unsurprisingly yet another hoax meant to feed off the hope and dreams of Fallout fans.

The alleged German trademark application was originally posted on NeoGAF and included the Fallout: Shadow of Boston name along with Bethesda Softworks LLC as the filer. This was quickly picked up by major gaming sites such IGN, GameSpot, VG247 and others.

You’d think previous hoaxes regarding Fallout 4 would make these sites hesitant to post, but that was not the case. They’ve all been forced to post corrections due to the following statement from Bethesda.

The German trademark filing that’s making the rounds is a hoax. This didn’t come from our offices.

— Bethesda Softworks (@Bethblog) November 5, 2014

For whatever reason, hoaxers have latched onto Fallout 4. An email was circulated earlier this year supposedly from Bethesda using the Fallout font. It was made to look like a special announcement was coming on January 12th, as Kotaku reported at the time. That was a fake.

Prior to that, there was the case of a hoax website called TheSurvivor2299.com. That was quickly discovered to be a hoax as well as GameSpot and others reported.

These prior incidents should have immediately made anyone skeptical of this new trademark posting. Indeed, the owner of the Fallout Wiki quickly posted reasons why it was a fake long before Bethesda made the announcement.

Why are we calling BS on this? Here’s the raisins [sic]:

1. No such trademark has been submitted to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and submitting it there first is the general practice of the company (The Skyrim trademark was filed for in June 2010 at the USPTO).
2. Ann K. Ford (DLA Piper) is the S. Chair of the Trademark, Copyright and Media Practiceof the company. In Washington, D.C., not Paris.
3. If it was Bethesda, it would be doing it via DLA Piper UK, as seen in this DPMA entry.
4. Not to mention, all Bethesda trademarks are registered to its parent company, Zenimax Media, not Bethesda Softworks. Example.
5. The European Union’s Office for the Harmonization of the Internal Market only requires the payment for registration to be made within 30 days of filing, not at the moment of submission. Check it yourself.
6. Bethesda’s next installment will be called Fallout 4or Fallout IV. That’s why Skyrim is The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, not The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim.

Is there another Fallout coming? All signs point to yes. One of the voice actors of Fallout 3 teased in 2013 that his character will be returning and Kotaku received a host of casting documents for a game set in Boston.

In short, Fallout 4 rumors may be flying fast and furious with the VGX awards show coming in December. It may be better to sit this one out until an official announcement or overwhelmingly convincing leak is made.

[Image via Fallout]