I just wanted some general input into something I’ve been thinking about, and that’s how close to another company’s (or individuals) game title can you be without getting into any legal trouble.
As a hypothetical, lets say two game studios make a game about a generic everyday topic or thing: lets say Gummy Worms in this case (just a hypothetical example so bear with me).
Now lets say company #1 names their game simply “Gummy Worm”. Would it be legally acceptable for company #2 to name their game “Gummy Worms” (plural)? Or would that be copyright infringement and too close to the other company’s name? What about if company #2 names their game “Gummy Worms: In Space” – with a caption or subtitle. Would it still be too close?
Overall, how close to another game title can you be? Especially if it’s a generic topic that everyone uses or happens?
Its not copyright infringement. Names can’t be copyrighted.
What it is is trademark infringement. Trademarks are about ensuring the consumer knows what they are buying and who they are buying from. Anything likely to cause confusion among consumers is generally a trademark violation.
Names can be trademarked. If its a registered trademark, you can’t use it at all. If its not a registered trademark, which often happens with generic names, you can generally use it. But you still can’t deliberately confuse consumers.
If your strategy is to get as close as you can to someone else’s trademark then, first of all, yes, you’re flirting with trademark issues there.
Secondly, I’d think carefully about who I was tangling with because, as an indie, chances are very strong that I’m better off avoiding a fight than encouraging one. If we’re fighting with someone established we’re likely to lose any legal concerns which may arise, and if they’re not established then we have little or nothing to gain by confusing our title with theirs.
As a thought experiment, consider doing equivalent things to current, big name IPs. Can you imagine getting away with calling something “The Avengers: In Space”? What about “Black Panthers”?
I’m no IP expert, so lets imagine for a second that you could win if you were challenged about making something called “Black Panthers” (who were a political party of historical significance). Is that really the best way to spend your limited time and resources, or are you better off changing the name which will both avoid a fight with Disney and help people to recognise that your project is a different thing.
Of course there are projects which try to cash in on having similar names to well established things. I personally think it’s a bit immoral, and suspect it can’t be good for your reputation unless you want to just keep doing the same.
Hmm. Well my goal wasn’t to rip off another companies title, or try to steal from their name recognition. It’s actually just a generic everyday thing that happens a lot in real life, and so I want people to recognize my game as being about that “thing”. It’s normally called such “thing” by everyone. So yes, I want to get close to it because that’s what it’s called in real life…but another game company has a title with that name.
I think overall, I’ll just have to use different phrasing. I definitely will not use the same name, but I just am not sure if I could get close or not. I think you’re right in that I should just make sure it’s distinct enough to not even give it any chances of being trademark infringement.
Thank you for the info I’ll keep thinking about it.
Ahh, apologies! I was using that as a worst-case example, not to suggest that’s specifically what you were specifically trying to do.
The No Man’s Sky case from a few years ago is an example of where they probably weren’t trying to do that, but because their applications were broad they got contested even though the word in question was a common one - “Sky”.
Ya, as another example what if a game was about Game Development – kind of a specific activity. And a company has named their game “Game Development” already. Could I name my game “Game Developers” or “Game Developing” or “Game Dev”, “Game Making”, “Game Creation” etc…? Just another example of kind of what I’m wondering about, but not sure of really.
There are trade mark lawyers who specialize in this. Strongly suggest seeing one if things get serious.
In general terms the more “made up” your name is, the easier it is to trademark. The more generic the name is, the harder it is to trademark. Its highly unlikely that a term Game Development could be trademarked. Its a common term in use by millions of people.
The law differs by jurisdiction, but generally if your name is close enough to the other trademark that a reasonable person could be confused between your name and their’s, you’re at risk of not only a lawsuit but losing said lawsuit.
I’ll keep thinking about it.