HBO Moves to Block 'GAME OF DRAGONS' Trademark Amid 'Game of Thrones' Legacy
Apr/29/2025
Home Box Office, Inc. has filed a formal opposition to 'GAME OF DRAGONS', a textual and combined mark recently applied for virtual-reality art exhibitions, augmented-reality video production, escape-room attractions, and museum-style showcases, arguing that it too closely echoes its hallmark franchises 'GAME OF THRONES' and 'HOUSE OF THE DRAGON'. What began as George R.R. Martin’s novels transformed into HBO’s cultural juggernaut—regularly drawing over 10 million viewers per season on broadcast and millions more via illicit streams—and garnered 32 Emmy nominations in 2019 alone. Production costs ballooned from an average of $6 million per episode in season 2 to $15 million by season 8, while the show’s epic scope saw character deaths surge from 59 in season 1 to 3,523 in the finale, with Winterfell accounting for 3,709 of those on-screen fatalities. Despite more than 30% of Americans identifying as casual fans by 2019, the series’ closing chapter left over one-third of its audience dissatisfied—citing "poor writing" — and sparked a marked preference for earlier seasons over later ones. The following visualization shows detailed information on the opposed trademarks and a side-by-side comparison of the original and opposed combined marks, highlighting overlapping design motifs.
