After last week’s reveal that Game Freak had been toying the idea of partnering players with Pikachu in a detective game, Serebii reports that a trademark has been filed for “Great Detective Pikachu.”
Whilst not to be treated as confirmation that the game will definitely be released, we can see it as a safeguard being put in place for the future.
We already know that the project, if pursued, is expected to release in 2015, so I certainly wouldn’t anticipate a surprise arrival anytime soon.