Today i received a notice from one of the big players in this genre, Kolibri Games. They are claiming that the naming convention “Idle … Tycoon” is their trademark and that i should change the name of my game.
Here’s the full message:
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The developer of “Idle CEO Tycoon” is using a name that contains the distinctive feature from our trademark series “Idle … Tycoon”, including the following trademarks:
Idle Miner Tycoon
Idle Factory Tycoon
Idle City Tycoon
Idle Farm Tycoon
Idle Restaurant Tycoon
Idle Zoo Tycoon
Idle Tycoon
The links attached can confirm our statement.
The developer of “Idle CEO Tycoon” is thus likely to cause confusion regarding the relationship between them and Kolibri Games, or to falsely suggest that Kolibri Games sponsors, approves of, or endorses this game.
We demand the renaming of the developer’s app to stop the infringement of our trademark rights. We expressly do not demand a takedown of this app.
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I am fairly confident that neither the words Idle nor Tycoon can be trademarked and that i have the right to publish a game with this name. There are literally thousands of games with this naming so how can they claim that it is their trademark?
What do you guys think i should do? Its not that i am earning anything from it , i just think it’s a good name and i dont want to change it because i think i’m right…
If I were you, I would ask them about prove and reference, to trademark claim. Also, in which countries trademark applies to, with official prove.
More over, I would ask, how their claim functions, with already existing games on the market, since 5-10 years.
See for example
Armor Games, which exists at least since flash games. And used Idle and Tycoon words together, since long time.
@
“This search session has expired. Please start a search session again by clicking on the TRADEMARK icon, if you wish to continue.”
They have a (vaguely) reasonable point that the naming could cause confusion with their brand. A quick trademark search reveals that they do have a large number of trademarks using this pattern. Certainly* their case is not so weak that it would get thrown out of court.
Could you take them to court and possible win? Maybe. Would you end up out of pocket? Probably.
I agree that its a shitty practice but is this the point where you want to make a stand? It could easily cost you tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.
So some options:
Change the name
Assume that they are just fishing and ignore the request
Talk to a lawyer with the likely outcome that they advise you to do number 1 or 5 both which will be at your cost
Register your own trademark (which may be enough to turn them off from further action, will be at your cost of course)
Commit to fighting to the bitter end
Your game has 5-10k downloads … is it really worth the fight?
If so I would go for option 4 as a starting point, and be ready to get a a lawyer involved if it escalates
Based on my limited experience as a tech advisor involved in a couple of Trademark and IP disputes
From a moral point-of-view, you copied their name, right? You knew about those older games when you picked the name for yours, right? I mean, the “tycoon” at the end is redundant. “Idle CEO” makes more sense. But CEO is boring. “Idle Mogul” or “Idle Robber Baron” (if you have a steam-punk theme) is better.
I’m not so sure “idle” needs to be in the title. A name made from search terms is ugly (Idle Apocalypse gets a pass, since the contrast is funny). My favorite, to play, is “Realm Grinder” – no Idle. “Soda Dungeon” did OK, and it’s an idle game with no explicit Idle. I’m thinking a name for yours like “turn-key empire” has more character (after all those super-scammy late-night Ads about turn-key businesses).
What I’m saying is “there are only so many logical names, so of course they’ll all seem similar” isn’t so true.
It’s like it’s pretty much the same game play and roughly similar looking. They would have a fairly easy time convincing a court that your game is intentionally trying to trade on their mark. That is pretty the point of trademark, to prevent people from essentially trying to do what you are doing. If you would have made it more distinctive, of used a different name, you could maybe fight it, but this… it will be expensive, time-consuming and in the end, you won’t win. Change the name.
imo calling something ‘idle … tycoon’ is too descriptive of what the game is to be identifiable as a name. Both are commonly used descriptive terms for genres and styles of game. i very much doubt it would hold up as a trademark in court. But it’ll cost you $$$ to find out with the risk that it’ll cost you a LOT of $$$ to have found out if it doesn’t go your way. Either change the name or get a lawyer (who will probably tell you it’d be far easier to just change the name). Personally I’d just change the name.
I’ve just received similar email today from Kolibri Games. (I have game in the store called Idle Tower Tycoon). It looks like they are trying to block the use of the words “idle” and “tycoon” in the names of the games. For now, they have no right to do so, because their trademark application for the “Idle Tycoon” name is still pending.
If they will got that trademark then we will have to change the names of our games. I think this is stupid because the words “idle” and “tycoon” are more indicative of the genre and type of games than their specific name. It’s like claiming the word “simulator” or something similar.
If they don’t actually have the trademark then that’s another story. sometimes silly marks slip through but something like this should be refused. Better yet it makes life easier for you if you want to fight it, you may be able to file an objection/opposition to their application for the mark instead of a costly lawsuit after the fact. Still something to consult a lawyer about tho.
I would really poke them and ask for proves of claims.
Then most likely will leave you alone, as they have nothing on you.
They can not force you to do anything, without prove.
They are just trying scare others and take advantage, of popular genre and key words.
That should not become new fashion of the game market to monopolize things.
Imaging trying to trademark ‘zombie’ word.
And even if they get trade mark, then they should send you notice, not before.
Not sure however, if that applies as well, when you prove of your name existence, before they trademarked theirs.
I just can not see happening that someone reserves rights to use ‘Idle’ and ‘Tycoon’.
It sounds like they’re just trying to corner the market on ‘idle … tycoon’ games because they made a few of the larger ones.
In moral terms, I don’t think “idle … tycoon” games exist in a moral universe. That whole area is so dirty and crossbred with seo optimization that to imagine one company trying to claim ownership seems pretty absurd, especially in moral terms.
Thanks for the replys, great help. I sent them an email asking for proof or a legal binding document. Let see what happens… I’ll post an update here if they answer.
My message:
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Hi,
I recently received a notice from your legal team concerning trademark matters. I’ve discussed this issue with my lawyer and as far as we are concerned neither the term Idle or the term Tycoon cannot be bound to one company. These are generic names that are used by thousands of games online. I too live in Europe so I know how this works.
Might I demand a proof or statement that your company, and only your company, has the rights to this naming?
Thanks,
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I too think that this shouldnt be the way of doing things. I’ve been playing their games since the beginning and i know them verry well, this doesn’t mean that i’ve copied them. All the idle games resemble to each other and as a fact when I published my game they had only 2 games on the market, one of them was just launched. So they can’t claim that i referenced or copied from their ‘series’.
Funny fact i even considered applying for an internship at them
We’ll see what happens. I’ll keep you guys up to date.
@ridakzemlo if you look through that list in more detail - there are really two companies in there. Kolibri is one of the companies but Fluffy Fairy Games owns at least 3 or 4 of those.
If you look a little further, Kolibri filed most of those in april of this year - AFTER - the others had already been registered. They basically blitzed a bunch of those marks on April 26th.
Honestly, it looks like they’re just trying to abuse trademark law to take over that SEO combination (although I donno the whole history).
If they persist with it too far, email it all to Jim Stirling or a few other similar people in games journalism. They usually appreciate an opportunity to highlight shitty behavior in the industry. a larger studio abusing the copyright/trademark system to try and monopolize common game terms and push small studios/indies out might get a bit of interest. If you don’t feel like risking $$ fighting it legally then making some negative press about their bullying behavior might end up being the best you can do about it.
Yea, but if he, or similar, bothers or cares, they are equally likely to attack/rant on low effort knock-offs. It really won’t go well. There are hundreds of stories of indies getting the shaft or frivolous lawsuits (sky vs no mans sky) this just isn’t one of those cases.
Unless you have something serious to gain by not complying, just comply. Honestly what difference does it make to your game?
Unless you have an established large user base who recognise the brand already, you wont be losing anything. If anything see it as an opportunity to diferentiate yourself from all those other games.
That said from searching patents they (probably - no-one here is a laywer and all advise should be treated as such) dont have a legal footing to actually stop you using “idle tycoon” and they themselves only applied for patents well after the first “idle tycoon” game hit phones.
, i just think it’s a good name and i dont want to change it because i think i’m right…
