Independent developer Hemisphere Games has offered a cautionary tale surrounding its experience with the naming rights for the iPad version of its blob-absorption game Osmos on Apple's App Store.
According to a post on the Hemisphere blog, the company was told the name Osmos HD was already in use when they tried to upload the iPad version of the game in July.
The name Osmos was also taken on Apple's iTunes Connect developer backend, despite no iPad app with either name being available in the App Store, and despite existing versions of Osmos already being available for iPhone and various computer platforms.
After uploading their game as "Osmos for iPad" and contacting Apple Support, Hemisphere received a communication from a Russian developer who had claimed the "Osmos" and "Osmos HD" projects in iTunes Connect in March, but had not yet released them to the App Store.
Despite Hemisphere's assertion of trademark rights to the name Osmos, the unnamed Russian developer of the other "Osmos" project still requested $1,350 in compensation to release the name for Hemisphere's use, a move Hemisphere referred to as "extortion."
The matter was eventually settled when the other "Osmos" project on iTunes Connect disappeared, likely due to an App Store rule that requires a full app to be uploaded 4 months after a project is set as "ready for upload" in the App Store.
Still, Hemisphere warns other developers to defend their naming rights on the App Store by adding them to iTunes Connect as early as possible.
"The message for all you developers out there is: begin an App Store submission early — perhaps you’ll beat The Russian to it," the blog post concludes.
Well, you often purchase songs based on artist and song name.
I don't think many people are looking for Rovio when they buy Angry Birds. If they didn't maintain app name uniqueness I shudder to think of all the Angry Birds ripoff games that would exist just to take someone's money (I searched Angry Birds cause I heard it was good and downloaded the first app sort of issues).
I don't think that's as much of an issue in music(squatting on names or scamming people with similar song titles), as well as songs not being specifically built for iTunes so it's hardly enforceable like it is with apps that will only run through iTunes app store.
Because you can easily preview the song and see that it's not the same? Meanwhile, a crafty dev could make a game that looks like another with the same name, and not until after you've bought and played it, would you realize that it's a lesser-quality dummy version. At least, that's my guess.
Good question. My guess is that music purchasers are savvy/educated enough to look at the Artist/Album name to tell different cover versions (and/or identically named songs) apart. I'm not sure anyone pays enough attention to the "developer" area of the App Store to do the same... they just look based on game title.
That said, if Apple allowed identically-named apps, I bet consumers would learn right quick to pay attention.
As Tom said, song titles are not meant to be unique. Instead, the artist + song title is generally unique (though not guaranteed!).
Actually, title reuse is going to become more and more problematic, as hinted at here:
http://www.lawlawlandblog.com/2010/11/reuse_and_confuse_the_recyclin. html
At the moment, it's not a huge issue, as physical media is generally only available for a short time (99% will have vanished off the shelves after 2 years). This isn't the case for online marketplaces: a media piece could potentially remain accessible for decades, unless it's explicitly removed by the owner. As a result, there's going to be a lot more namespace clashes...
My game is named Paddle Wars: Hit The Wall, and the previous game was Paddle Wars 3000.
I complained to apple (although Paddle Wars: Hit The Wall is still WIP, Paddle Wars 3000 is from about 4 years ago), they said will investigate, and that is it :/ I never figured how to talk with the developer. (also the game on the store is just a crap pong clone).
The problem with Hemisphere Games' suggestion is that after 120 days Apple will delete any name you sit on and you lose it *forever*.
There are ways around this. Appealing to Apple, or breaking your App Store agreement by fiddling with names, deleting them, and then re-registering them. But neither are perfect solutions.
We are currently midway through an ambitious iOS app's development (which has taken 12 months to date), with a name reserved in the App Store which matches our product title, graphics assets, and is crucial to our storyline. We also have a website by that name which we also reserved for the app, and are starting to build a community around as we move our development forward.
Unfortunately because we don't rush games out in 90 or 120 days we are constantly "negotiating" with Apple to keep this name.
You can always register your game name as a trademark. When you logo/name is registered you can in practice sue anyone who uses that for a game. Apple will have no choice but to take their app out of the store because it is infringing on your trademark. This of course costs money and takes time but if its a serious project this is the way to go.
This is correct in principal. However, in practise it is not an option for many small developers. Especially when you are dealing with an app which may or may not recoup its costs.
Of course, one could simply wing it with TM and not bother with R.
Incidentally I have actually been on the receiving end of a TM lawsuit, where I was allegedly the infringer. In that case Apple were actually not much help to the complainant. In the end we came to an arrangement between ourselves as I saw their side of things.
My main point is that the 120 day thing is pretty arbitrary and stupid, unless you are writing a fart app. ;)
I don't think many people are looking for Rovio when they buy Angry Birds. If they didn't maintain app name uniqueness I shudder to think of all the Angry Birds ripoff games that would exist just to take someone's money (I searched Angry Birds cause I heard it was good and downloaded the first app sort of issues).
I don't think that's as much of an issue in music(squatting on names or scamming people with similar song titles), as well as songs not being specifically built for iTunes so it's hardly enforceable like it is with apps that will only run through iTunes app store.
That said, if Apple allowed identically-named apps, I bet consumers would learn right quick to pay attention.
Actually, title reuse is going to become more and more problematic, as hinted at here:
http://www.lawlawlandblog.com/2010/11/reuse_and_confuse_the_recyclin. html
At the moment, it's not a huge issue, as physical media is generally only available for a short time (99% will have vanished off the shelves after 2 years). This isn't the case for online marketplaces: a media piece could potentially remain accessible for decades, unless it's explicitly removed by the owner. As a result, there's going to be a lot more namespace clashes...
My game is named Paddle Wars: Hit The Wall, and the previous game was Paddle Wars 3000.
I complained to apple (although Paddle Wars: Hit The Wall is still WIP, Paddle Wars 3000 is from about 4 years ago), they said will investigate, and that is it :/ I never figured how to talk with the developer. (also the game on the store is just a crap pong clone).
There are ways around this. Appealing to Apple, or breaking your App Store agreement by fiddling with names, deleting them, and then re-registering them. But neither are perfect solutions.
We are currently midway through an ambitious iOS app's development (which has taken 12 months to date), with a name reserved in the App Store which matches our product title, graphics assets, and is crucial to our storyline. We also have a website by that name which we also reserved for the app, and are starting to build a community around as we move our development forward.
Unfortunately because we don't rush games out in 90 or 120 days we are constantly "negotiating" with Apple to keep this name.
Of course, one could simply wing it with TM and not bother with R.
Incidentally I have actually been on the receiving end of a TM lawsuit, where I was allegedly the infringer. In that case Apple were actually not much help to the complainant. In the end we came to an arrangement between ourselves as I saw their side of things.
My main point is that the 120 day thing is pretty arbitrary and stupid, unless you are writing a fart app. ;)