PAWTUCKET – Toy and game maker Hasbro Inc., has forced a team of independent game developers to shut down their “My Little Pony” multiplayer online game by issuing a cease-and-desist notice, the developers said in a blog posting.

My Little Pony toys are plastic ponies with long manes and tails, mainly marketed towards young girls and have earned a cult following well outside its target age group.

When the game developers received the notice from Hasbro, they said they “initially dismissed this as it was most likely submitted by some trolls,” the developers said, adding that they soon found the complaint was “very real,” Bloomberg News reported.

According to the game developers, under U.S. trademark law, Hasbro has to defend its trademarks or risk losing them.

The developers found no way to work around the trademark issue and suspended further development of the game. •