Microsoft Trademark May Foil Sony's "Arc"

Sony's rumored plan to name its motion control device "Arc" has apparently been derailed by a pre-existing trademark held by none other than Microsoft.

The name game surrounding Sony's motion controller for the PlayStation 3 has been dragging on for almost a year now and just as it was starting to look like it might finally be all over, a bump in the road comes along and throws everything into disarray. In this case, that bump is a series of PC accessories that bear the same name, like the Arc Mouse and Arc Keyboard, trademarked by Sony's favorite friendly cross-town rival, Microsoft.

The name of the controller hasn't officially been announced and it has also been referred to as "Gem" in the past, but Arc came to the fore at the beginning of the year and just a few days ago, Sony filed a trademark for "PlayStation Arc" in Japan, only a week before GDC, where presumably it would have been unveiled. But industry sources now say the company is "considering a quick renaming of the device," according to CVG, to avoid any potential trouble with Microsoft over the name.

A Sony representative gave the standard "no comment" response when contacted. The name game, it appears, is not quite over yet.