I have just decided the name for my game and the logo is ready, I have googled there’re no same name as a brand…
but there’re still few months until the game is finished, what if someone just registered the same name and then I can’t use this name any more…despite the fact i have been promotion with this name for few months, it would be a big loss if we have to change name in the end?
I’m an indie dev so I’m not really understand the legal and trademark stuff 
any1 got the same quesiton?
I have no idea about all this stuff, but I guess it would cost way too much to do that kind of legal stuff anyways. So pick a name and just go for it. The chance that there will be a game with the same name as yours is relatively small. Even if it’s just something like “SHOOT STUFF!”. How many games do you know are called like that? I don’t know any. So feel free to take it, if your game name will be taken by then…
I don’t see the need for something like that as long as you’re not EA or someone who is in the big business and actually has to “defend” their intellectual property.
If you’re expecting the game to be a hit then you must be ready, otherwise don’t bother.
Someone else can register the name and then sue you
Copyright is granted automatically and this is generally enough protection for a game. Trademarks are hugely expensive, especially worldwide. More information on this would be nice as well.
I think for the relatively small cost of registering a domain name, and creating a website with your logo on and a “coming soon” teaser message, you’d get some protection. You’d be able to show that you registered the name on a particular date. But, as everyone else has said, it’s fairly low risk if you don’t register anything. Worst case you’ll have to come up with a new name, and perhaps create new artwork.
Yea, pretty much what others have said. I would note that copyright will really only apply to the visual appearance/art of the logo/game art.
To register a trademark you basically you start with a search for existing marks, and there are legal firms that specialize in that. If a similar one exists, they can help determine if your would complete or violate the other mark. (like different industries/products may have a similar mark it doesn’t cause confusion, though it is case by case) If a similar mark exists, it might also to be an option to contact the owner and buy it or license it or some other arrangement. It’s not outrageously expensive, but not cheap (I think it was around 2k-ish) and it did take about a month. But that was about 10 years ago. Not sure what it costs now.
At GG we ran into the situation where another company had trademark on an game (a physical game, it was a toy company) that they weren’t using on anything currently, but they didn’t want to give it up. We ended up changing the name of our game to avoid problems because we were planning (hoping) ti would become a huge game (it didn’t).
But most of the time, as others have said, it shouldn’t be a problem if you can’t find anything that already exists. AAA titles and such will do it to cover their bases so they don’t end up paying through the nose later. A civil suit against a mark will often seek a portion (or all) of the revenue. But they still have to prove that your revenue was because their mark helped sell your game, or that your use would impact their revenue. Difficult to prove/win unless they have a well known brand.
Most likely if you were able to get the domain name and not able to find anything else yourself you should be ok.
Yeah, being able to get the domain name is a pretty good indication that you’re alright. Also, I don’t know where you’re from, but in Canada you can do a free search of registered trade marks.
Keep in mind that you don’t have to register a trade mark to have some protection, all that registering the trade mark does is make it much more clear cut if someone were to challenge your right to use the mark. So someone can’t just decide today to give their game the same name as yours and then sue you, because they would be infringing on your rights.
thanks guys, so we’ll just go with our current name… and i’m sure our logo is unique so even if we have to change our name the Logo would stay the same
You should keep the names and intentions a secret until after you register it and after the LLC goes ahead.
There are some jerks on this forum who register other people’s domains and then try to sell it back to their supposed owners. I’m not sure if this befalls to you, but just saying in case the domain is available and someone else registers it after you blurt it out and do not register it.
Registering a trademark in United State don’t cost that much. Around 300$.
It’s simple and you don’t need a lawyer
You should at least register the domain name.
They aren’t that expensive, though it could certainly add up if you tried to do it worldwide.
In the UK its just £170 + £50 for each additional class - registering a Trade Mark.
There is also an EU system the ‘Community trade mark’ for 900 euros, though i’m not familiar with what that covers.
However in general as a small indie you shouldn’t even bother going for worldwide trade mark, it wouldn’t be worth it, since a trade mark just gives you the ‘right’ in law. If someone infringed on it, you’d still have to take them to court (eventually) which you probably couldn’t afford to do within your own country let alone a different one.
I’d say its worth trading marking at least in your own country and then maybe US and possibly EU, depending upon where you are selling and what you biggest markets are going to be. Though its only worth doing if you plan to build up a franchise based on the trade mark, and feel that the product would take off, or alternatively if you’ve invested a large amount of funds into it. For example if you spent £20k on producing game assets, hiring artists etc, then it would be worth spending a few hundred to a thousand pounds on protecting your game name, otherwise its probably just a waste.
Do anyone know if its possible to copyright/trademark/patent a general game design?
For example, could Entropia Universe (Mind Ark) take copyright/trademarm/patent so only they have the legal right to make a Real Cash Economy game?
Thatd be like trying to trademark and patent a genre of music. So in otherwords no.
Hippo has it right. You get copyright automatically - something like ‘Copyright 2013, BlahBlahLLC’ suffices. Trademarking is rarely worthwhile. If you expect to ship millions of units, around the globe, then consult a lawyer. Otherwise, you may be confused about the potential success of your product - trademarks are CRAZY expensive, and you have to constantly protect them with an army of lawyers.
My advice - build and release a decent product, as fast as you can, so you can set it aside and get busy making another one. Cause the only metric shown to correlate to success is the NUMBER OF APPS you’ve previously shipped. Or as the love song said, ‘One is the loneliest number…’
Gigi.
You could patent something like this, if you had come up with it 20 or 30 years ago. There is already such a patent in existence, which is why Apple and others spend millions for it.
Gigi
McDonald’s has the golden Arch…McDowell’s has the golden “M”. They have the Big Mac…we have the Big Mic.
—Coming to America
Register domain name and slap a logo on it with coming soon. Kept it secret till you ready for PR.
eskimojoe, with all respect, something is bad about your karma.
I really enjoy your insight and over time you have revealed many pitfalls a dev can fall into, helping us.
But I cannot stop thinking that it is unnatural that all these bad situations keep happen to you !
Try another feng shui configuration ?
Jokes aside, thanks for the insight, it is very useful.