Today it was reported that the new L.A. Noir television show has to changes its’ name because of the L.A. Noire video game. L.A. Noir is a television show that is being developed by director Frank Darabont, the man behind the first season of the television show the Walking Dead and the movie Shawshank Redemption.
Apparently Take-Two threatened to file a lawsuit against anyone who worked on the show unless Darabont changed the name of the show. The names of the show and the game were too similar and Take -Two felt they had to defend their intellectual properties name. Not only that, but both the game and the television show were set during the 1940′s and focus on crime, so there is more similarities than just the name.
And according to Darabont, Take-Two had the money to back up the lawsuit so he did relent and changed the name of the TV show to Lost Angels. This may seem a little inconsequential, but if Take-Two didn’t say anything about this now, in the future if they ever wanted to make a sequel to L.A. Noire the people who run the television show would have done the same thing.
The television station would tell Take-Two they didn’t defend the property in the first place so the naming rights should go to the television show L.A. Noir; forcing Take-Two to change the name of the game instead of it being the other way around.
Source: Gamestop
