An author chose the same name for his comic book as the developers of Expedition 33. After a warning, he was already ready to rename his work, but now everything is taking a positive turn.
Why was the author warned? Olivier Gay is the author of the comic book “L’Académie Clair-Obscur,” which is about a magic school and its students. However, Clair Obscur is also the trademark of Sandfall Interactive, which celebrated great success with their hit Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 in 2025.
Recently, the author received a legal letter from the developers for precisely this reason. It stated that he should stop selling his comic under the name Clair Obscur, as he was benefiting significantly from the developers’ trademark.
The author, who had already chosen the name long before the developers presented Clair Obscur, was ready to give up and had no interest in a legal dispute, but now both sides have found a good solution.
Here you can watch the trailer for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33:
Happy ending for everyone
How did the story end? The developers and author Olivier have come to an agreement. The author himself could do nothing about the similar name and, like the developers, simply discovered it himself.
Thus, the developers now explain on X.com that they have spoken with all parties and also their own legal counsel and decided to withdraw the claims from their attorney.
In doing so, they state: “We have always wanted to support artists and promote creativity, and this is one of the most important values we want to uphold at Sandfall.” They also wish the author and his comic much success for the future.
How did it come to this? The developers also addressed this in their post on X.com. They explain that their legal counsel’s job is to combat product counterfeiting. While this does not apply to “L’Académie Clair-Obscur,” it is generally an important task.
Thus, the firm aims to prevent others from profiting from the trademark of the franchise. The fact that the comic author got caught in the crossfire was likely solely due to the name, as the content of the comic has nothing to do with Clair Obscur.
The comic can keep its name, and the developers of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 wish all the best. For both sides, it seems to be a happy ending because the community did not view warning an innocent author as particularly good. More details about the case can be found here: Author warned because his comic is called Clair Obscur, developers now speak out
