Before mobile phones and tablets became a hotbed of gaming on the go and a multi-billion dollar industry, handheld consoles ruled the day. Nintendo's handheld device, the Game Boy, kicked things off after it released in 1989 featuring 8bit graphics on a dot-matrix screen. The Game Boy series lasted two decades, evolving through new revisions like the Game Boy Advance, SP, and eventually giving way to the DS and 3DS systems.
The success and popularity of Nintendp's portable console also gave rise to competitors like Sega's Game Gear, Atari Lynx, and the N-Gage to name a few. While Sony's PlayStation line of home consoles continued to be a best seller, the company also eyed a peice of the handheld market by first introducing the PlayStation Portable in the mid-2000s. As technology continued to improve, Sony eventually released the PSP's successor dubbed the PlayStation Vita.
Attempting to merge the experience of big-budget home consoles with that of the rising mobile gaming platforms, Vita saw plenty of indie support as well as JRPG classics like Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster and Persona 4 before it was eventually ported to the PC. Even Sony's major franchise Uncharted had an exclusive game on the system called Golden Abyss. However, the Vita wasn't able to match the success of the Nintendo 3DS largely due to the high price of the system as well as the memory cards needed to store games and data. Sony slowly pivoted away from the Vita and eventually discontinued it outright in 2019, though it didn't stop fans from waxing poetic about the handheld device and potentially how ahead of its time it was.
Unfortunately, the lack of movement with the Vita has also caused Sony to lose out on its trademark due to "non-use." Recently, the European Union General Court ruled that Sony's trademark is going to be partially revoked, opening up its use for data carriers containing programs and "audio and/or image carriers (not of paper)." However, the rights for ther term's use in relation to a game console will remain with Sony as the court views the trademark more as a primary function for a game-playing device and not multimedia.
The news likely won't impact much in terms of Sony as the company continues to try and sunset the product. In fact, Sony recieved plenty of pushback from the community when it attempted to shut down the PlayStation Vita store earlier this year. Fan outcry over potentially lost or stranded titles was enough to convince Sony to leave the Vita Store operational for now.
Source: GamesIndustry