Blue Prince - IP protection as a Foundation for success

POV: You're trying to reach Room 46, but you keep drafting dead ends, or running out of steps, and that dartboard puzzle is just impossible! If this rings a bell, then chances are you've been playing this year's hit game, “Blue Prince”. 

Described as a genre-defying puzzle / strategy / adventure, “Blue Prince” is ultimately the result of a collaborative work by a number of players in the creative industries. The creator, Tonda Ros of US company Dogubomb, Inc, developed the game using the Unity Engine^TM . In April 2025 the game was distributed by Swedish publisher, Raw Fury AB.  Artistic collaborations include the lush artwork by Italian 3D Artist and Art Director Davide Pellino, and dreamy music composed by Dutch duo Trigg & Gusset. 

The result is “Blue Prince”, which is that rarest of things: fresh, mysterious, and like nothing you've ever played before. 

When your work becomes a run-away success, how can you be sure that it won't be copied or otherwise used without your permission by third parties?

Copyrights

For all original artistic works - including artwork, music, photography, software, and literary works - intellectual property (IP) protection in the form of copyright law can be your first line of defence. In the UK, copyright is automatic and exists from the moment the work is created and recorded. Depending on the nature of the work, this type of IP right can last up to 70 years from the passing of the creator. 

In other countries, such as the US, while copyright protection comes into being automatically, you must register your work if you wish to bring a lawsuit for infringement.

Trade Marks

How else can works such as “Blue Prince” be protected? A trade mark registration - another form of IP right and protection - gives its owner a monopoly and enforceable right on the basis of which it may prevent others from using identical or similar marks without their consent, in relation to similar goods and/or services. 

Trade mark registrations provide powerful protection for a company's brand, helping to stop would-be infringers, and adding to the assets and overall value of the company.

As you might expect, Unity Technologies (developer of the Unity Engine) owns a large number of trade marks in the US and elsewhere, and its website even has a dedicated page listing them alongside guidelines for using them. Unity's trade marks include plain word marks, which afford them broad protection for practically any stylisation applied to them, as well as logos/stylised marks.

Raw Fury AB, “Blue Prince”'s publisher, also holds a number of trade mark registrations worldwide, including plain word marks for RAW FURY^R, FURY STUDIOS^R and ART OF FURY^R covering downloadable computer game software and the development of this; art prints; and others.

And Dogubomb, Inc itself holds a US trade mark registration for the word BLUE PRINCE^R, applied for back in 2019 and registered in 2021, covering inter alia, downloadable video game software. 

Trade mark registrations must be renewed every 10 years in the UK, but as long as this is done, and you actually use the trade mark as registered in your business in relation to the covered goods/services, trade marks can last forever.

Designs

Still further forms of intellectual property protection may come into play for a videogame such as “Blue Prince”, or even for technology which may be used to play or design videogames. For example, Registered Designs can be used to protect the appearance of a product, and Unity Technologies SF has a number of design registrations for products such as a “Wearable article for performance capture” (not associated with “Blue Prince”, but maybe in a future VR version how cool would it be to actually wander around Mount Holly?). 

Registered Designs last for up to 25 years in the UK, and unlike trade marks, there is no requirement to use the design. 

Patents

Unity Technologies SF also protects its IP using the patent system. A search on the Espacenet database for “Unity Tech SF” reveals 92 results for patents and patent applications in its name around the world, from the US and Canada, to the UK and Europe, to China, Korea, Singapore, Japan and Australia. These patents cover Unity's technology relating to image processing, computer animation, user interfaces and more, and some of this technology will likely have gone into the making of “Blue Prince”.

It's Fun. It's IP protected.

Tonda Ros' amazing game “Blue Prince” is therefore protected by a combination of intellectual property rights, including copyright, trade marks and patents. [Spoiler: you may even come across some IP within the game itself, in the form of patent no. 68642, filed at the Fenn Aries Patent Office …]

If you are looking to “draft” an effective and robust IP strategy, don't hit a dead end - Marks and Clerk's Entertainment & Creative Industries experts have years of experience in helping videogame developers and publishers navigate IP systems around the world. 

We also have a dedicated team of XR specialists, who assist clients in not only the field of entertainment, but also in the fields of healthcare, product design and training.

Image credit: Blue Prince by Raw Fury AS