The past few years, trademark leaks have flourished stirring debates, speculations and hype many days before Blizzard Entertainment actually made the official announcement.
That was the case with CATACLYSM which showed up in the US Trademark Office website days before BlizzCon, and it has been the case with many other Blizzard expansions.
| Game | Leak Date | Official Announcement |
| Cataclysm | Trademark leaked in July 1, 2009. | Official announcement at BlizzCon 2009 (August 21) |
| Mists of Pandaria | Trademark leaked early Aug 2011. | Officially announced at BlizzCon 2011 (October 21, 2011) |
| Heroes of the Storm | The trademark was leaked on Sept 30, 2013 | The official website launched Oct 17, 2013 nearly 2 weeks after the trademark leak. |
| Warlords of Draenor | The trademark was leaked in Australia on Nov 1 2013, then the USA office leaked on November 5, 2013. | Officially announced at BlizzCon 2013 (November 8) |
| Overwatch | The trademark was leaked on April 1, 2014. | Official announced at BlizzCon 2014 (November 7) |
LEGION marked an astonishing change of pace for the trademark leaks. This time no trademark was leaked in advance.
The USK which approves cinematics shown at GamesCom and leaks (publishes) them online ahead of GamesCom has always leaked anything Blizzard plans to show at the event. This year it didn’t happen either.
We are seeing a new age where Blizzard is no longer keeping their cards close the chest. Now they keep the cards in the pack until the clock hits the “Go” mark and it is time to play.
The World of Warcraft: Legion trademark is finally visible today in the US Trademark Office, and it was registered on August 6th. The same day Blizzard officially announced LEGION. Took 5 days to appear in the website.
Does this mark the end of Blizzard trademark leaks? Chances are: it is. At least in term of trademarks. Leaks can come and go in different ways: a web developer accidentally makes something go live for a second, and someone catches it; Data mining; an insider; or a friend of a friend of an insider. You never know.
