The United States Patent and Trademark Office listing for Sega's trademark for the Shenmue franchise has been canceled due to inactivity, DualShockers reports . The official trademark status for the use of Shenmue in the United States says "Registration cancelled because registrant did not file an acceptable declaration under Section 8."

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To sum up some complicated trademark law , Section 8 of the US Trademark Act states that trademarks that are not being actively used in commerce must be periodically renewed in order for the rights holder to maintain the trademark listing. It seems that Sega did not sufficiently declare that the Shenmue listing is still in use.According to Section 8, "Registrations cancelled due to the failure to file a [Section 8] Declaration cannot be reinstated or 'revived.' A new application to pursue registration of the mark again must be filed." If Sega wants to use the Shenmue franchise in America in the future, it would need to re-apply for the trademark.The inactivity of Shenmue is not much of a revelation, considering the last real use of the trademark, Shenmue 2 , was released in 2001 for Dreamcast (and for the Xbox in 2002). Recent rumors of trademark updates for the series turned out to be false , and speculation of HD releases for Shenmue 1 and 2 have not panned out either.Even though Sega hasn't been actively using the Shenmue trademark lately, the company still acknowledges the series and the Shenmue spirit remains alive. Protagonist Ryo Hazuki was recently added to the racer roster in the PC version of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, and series creator Yu Suzuki is planning a talk at GDC 2014 this March to discuss the development of the first game.

Kyle England is a freelance games writer looking for sailors in Yokosuka. Hit him up on Twitter if you know where sailors like to hang out.