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THQ grabs Homeworld rights

Trademark filing points finger.

THQ appears to have signed the the trademark rights to the Homeworld series of games.

Eagle-eyed forumites on Relic News spotted the August filing (in turn spotted by Shacknews), which shows the Homeworld name pass from Vivendi to THQ and get lots of new attorneys to represent it in the process.

No mention is made of IP ownership, however, but it seems bonkers to believe one would go without the other.

Homeworld is a real-time strategy game developed by Relic Entertainment. It takes place in space and lets you command an enormous fleet in a 3D plane, a bit like holding a spaceship toy in your hand amid a hanging mobile of planets and pretending it is real and you aren't moving it with your arms.

THQ acquired developer Relic back in 2004 and has since released the critically acclaimed Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War and Company of Heroes series of games.

Neither THQ nor Vivendi was available to comment at time of writing, but it would seem logical to conclude - if the licence has changed hands - that a new Homeworld game is in the pipeline.