WWE drops Vice City trademark 2 weeks Before GTA 6 buzz

You'd expect a company to fight for a trademark it filed just weeks earlier, not walk away from it. But that's exactly what World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has done with "Vice City", abandoning an application it submitted in August as Rockstar's marketing for Grand Theft Auto 6 grows louder ahead of the game's November 19 release.

However, the initial application filed in the US Patent and Trademark Office was about wrestling shows, broadcast transmissions, websites, fan club operations, and other entertainment events, not games.

The timing of the filing did make people raise their eyebrows, primarily due to Lola Vice, one of the WWE stars whose hometown is listed as being Miami and who has embraced the Vice City persona, while Rockstar is preparing to bring people back to its Miami.

Fighter reported that the WWE filed an express abandonment of their trademark application on September 2nd, which was processed by the USPTO on September 21st. The reason for this change has not been provided publicly, which leaves the "how" up for speculation, but the end result has become apparent - Vice City remains a part of GTA 6.

This is where things get interesting. Take-Two Interactive owns both Rockstar Games and 2K Games, which produces the wrestling games of WWE. This has led to speculations of possible internal pressures, but as of now there has been no indication that Take-Two or 2K have anything to do with this.

While this trademark saga played out, Rockstar has kept blurring the line between fictional and real Miami, including signage that's appeared around the city welcoming visitors to "Vice City".