The lawyers’ request is withdrawn
It all started at the end of last week when Olivier Gay, author of the comic strip “L’Académie Clair-Obscur”, shared with the public the reason for a letter from the lawyers of Chiaroscuro: Expedition 33pointing out that the name of the work was problematic. There followed a silence over the weekend, which Sandfall broke yesterday to report that discussions were taking place behind the scenes to find a suitable agreement for both parties.
Then, finally, the official account of the Montpellier development team was keen to provide a definitive answer to this matter. Already, she begins by explaining a little more about her silence and the sobriety of her communication:
Hello everyone, sorry for the delay in communicating on the subject. The situation initiated by the legal representatives of our studio was new for us and complex to manage. We wanted to make sure we could discuss this with all stakeholders to make sure we understood what was going on before sharing information with you.
We understand better why there was no fire extinguished within a minute, even if this caution could have been put forward during the first speech in order to avoid any misunderstanding. However, the rest of the publication leaves no doubt about the good will of the members of the studio, moreover and definitively dispelling any suspicion of bad intention, which the speeches on creativity carried out for months contradicted:
Sandfall was working to withdraw the requests from our legal representative, which has now been done. Their role is to protect us in particular against counterfeit products, but the action initiated towards the comic strip “L’Académie Clair-Obscur” published in January 2026 does not suit us. We’ve always wanted to support artists and encourage creativity, and that’s one of the most important values we want to uphold at Sandfall. We wish Olivier and Grelin every success for their comic strip!
Legal considerations highlighted
In any case, this story served as a reminder of how complex justice and the law are. The public and observers (and ourselves included) will agree that the outcome of this story is the one that was most desirable. Both for Olivier Gay and for the image of Sandfall Interactive.
But past the indignation particularly motivated by the demonstration of good faith of the author of the comic strip and the publishing house, to say that there was a simple legal response would be an error. Yann Basire is one of the people wishing to put their finger on the problem raised by gambling lawyers.
Professor at the Center for International Studies of Intellectual Property (CEIPI) and director of the French-speaking Review of Intellectual Property (RFPI), Yann Basire has indeed given some details and nuances on his social networks. A publication made before the final Sandfall press release, of which here are some extracts:
[…] uA common name can be filed and registered as a trademark. Clair Obscur can therefore be protected in a specialty, that is to say for designated products and services. It is not the term that is protected in itself but rather the term in its relationship with products. Apple is well protected for computers. It’s the same thing here. Is the formal notice justified: yes and no. The owner of the chiaroscuro trademark believes that the title of the comic is likely to infringe its trademarks: by generating a risk of confusion or perhaps, if the chiaroscuro trademark is qualified as renowned, by invoking a form of parasitism. However, the success of this action is subject to the meeting of different conditions.
Yann Basire continues his remarks, and we understand that there is a world in which the case could have been discussed for a long time in court:
Without it being useful to go into details, it is still necessary that the disputed use – the title of the comic strip – be qualified as use as a trademark, that is to say made to identify products and services. This is not the case here. It is precisely a use as a “title” to identify a work. This is an important argument. Likewise, it will be necessary to report the risk of confusion…which is not always easy. For the infringement of the renowned trademark, it appears in the light of the most recent case law that the brands share a common name, this is more difficult to demonstrate. In short, we could develop much more.
At least, for this time, all’s well that ends well, and let’s welcome a definitive and positive response from Sandfall Interactive which will have been given in less than a week.