作者：Sheppard Mullin

社交游戏的崛起改变了游戏行业的面貌。因为门槛比传统游戏开发要低，所以新作品层出不穷。这些作品不仅有大公司的手笔，有些来自于小型初创公司。

作为游戏开发者，你可以创造出自认为具有创新性和吸引人的产品。但是你要如何让游戏受人关注呢？而且，要如何保护自己的成功不受到他人的窃取呢？商标可以有效地推广和保护你的品牌。

强势商标的组成部分

为新游戏命名是一个挑战。你希望游戏名能够出众并且吸引玩家，但是你也想用游戏名来告知潜在新玩家游戏的相关内容。许多开发商遇到的主要问题便源于后者——游戏名的描述性。

商标的强大之处（游戏邦注：即通过商标识别商品或服务来源的能力）有不同的衡量标准，一边是普通字词（游戏邦注：如“cake”），一边是没有任何内在含义的纯抽象字词（游戏邦注：如“cakiala”）。普通字词无法利用商标来保护自身。幻想和主观字词（游戏邦注：即与所使用商品没有联系的字词）是最强大的商标。

多数社交游戏的名字落于这两个极端之间的类别——描述和暗示名称。这两个类别间的界限非常模糊。顾名思义，描述名称直接描述商品的内容和特征。暗示名称并没有直接描述商品的内容，仅仅是暗示而已。

假设PastryPlay这个成功的新社交游戏开发商使用首轮融资获得的资金来开发一款游戏，玩家可以在游戏中种植和培养美味的魔法杯形糕饼植物。这款游戏的描述名称可以叫做《Cupcake Farm》。这个名字准确地描述了游戏的内容。相比之下，暗示名字可能是《Sprinkle Harvest》。这个名字同样可以让玩家知道游戏的内容，但是并没有直接描述。

sprinkle harvest(from lawofthelevel.com)

那么为何你需要在意游戏名是描述性的还是暗示性的呢？这是因为暗示名称通常被视为有内在特色，从而自动可被认为有资格享受商标保护。反之，描述名称只有名称本身才可以获得全部的商标保护。只有当描述名称被广泛使用和广告后，这个名称才可用来识别某款特别的游戏，这样才能获得全部商标保护。

当社交游戏发布时，就会被数百万的潜在玩家和无数的竞争者看到。如果游戏获得成功的话，就有可能冒出许多仿制品。在上文提到的例子中，PastryPlay根本无法阻止他们的竞争者制作杯形蛋糕农场游戏。而且因为“cupcake”和“farm”仅仅是对游戏内容的描述，所以PastryPlay也无法阻止其他开发商在其游戏名中使用这些词汇。社交游戏巨头PlaySweet可能在很快推出新游戏《Cupcake Ranch》，而PastryPlay面对此状况却束手无策。如果PastryPlay选择使用暗示名称，可能在面对其他人挑战时就会处在更有优势的地位。

通过竞争进行筛选

一旦你的公司拟定了数个新游戏的备选名称后，就要先核查下你是否是首个使用该商标的人。在美国，首个将其推向商业用途是商标权的基础，所以如果之前有人就相关产品使用过某些与你相似的名称，这可能会给你带来一定的麻烦。

所以，在品牌使用过程中，搜索之前的商品使用情况是必然之举。在使用游戏名称（游戏邦注：也包括公司名称或其他产品等）前先执行商标搜索，其所耗费的成本和精力要远远少于未来就商标问题引发的诉讼。这也是为何你需要为新游戏预设多个备选名称的原因，有可能某个名字之前就被他人使用过，尤其是在这个产品数量已经极为庞大的社交游戏市场上。

搜索阶段就要用上你的商标律师。在互联网上搜索似乎是个找到明显障碍的简便方法，但是商标律师能够提供更好的服务，他们对搜索技术较为了解，包括商标数据库，而且有一定的经验，知道哪些搜索结果有可能产生冲突。

尤其是在社交游戏领域里，由于进入该领域的门槛较低，因而市场上有大量的游戏。虽然许多游戏并没有取得非常大的成功，或许只拥有数量有限的玩家，但是商标法对游戏拥有多少月活跃用户并不关心，它关心的只是谁首先使用这个商标。

假设PastryPlay在使用游戏名《Sprinkle Harvest》之前不开展商标搜索。游戏发布之后，创造性的设计、有效的营销和玩家的口碑传播使得游戏获得巨大的成功，仅仅数周之后月活跃用户便超过100万。但是不幸的是，一个名叫Bill Baker的退休软件工程师在自己的闲暇时间开发游戏，在PastryPlay游戏发布前1个月就将游戏投放市场。尽管他的游戏并不流行，或许只有2000个月活跃用户。但是如果他提起诉讼，就可以强迫PastryPlay修改已经花费如此多的时间和金钱来推广的游戏名，而且还他还可以获得一大笔赔偿金。

预先准备

有个好消息，你可以在游戏发行之前先行保护你的新游戏名称。美国专利和商标局允许你递交意图使用（游戏邦注：下文简称“ITU”）商标申请。从本质上来说，这个申请允许你保留计划使用的商标的权利。对ITU商标的保护可以追溯到申请递交的那一刻。

让我们回顾下之前的情景，但是做些许改动。如果PastryPlay在游戏开发过程期间就定下了《Sprinkle Harvest》这个名称，并立即递交ITU商标申请。在PastryPlay递交申请不久之后，Bill Baker发布了他的同名游戏。1个月后，PastryPlay也发布了游戏。如果是这种情况，那么目前处在优势位置的便是PastryPlay。公司可以控告自己的商标受到侵犯，Bill Baker就必须要改变自己的游戏名称。因为PastryPlay的申请已经记录在案，而且Bill有义务在使用游戏名称时搜索商标记录，所以后者可能需要支付比上述案例中PastryPlay需要支付的更高金额的赔偿。

正如你在这个例子中可以看到的那样，ITU申请的递交日期非常重要。通过预先申请商标，你便可以防止其他开发商使用与你类似的商标。

执行商标权利

拥有商标权利固然很棒，但是只有执行才能够将这些权利的效能最大化。执行是维持名称合法权益和保留品牌特色的重要组成部分。

执行的第一个步骤是关注他人对商标的侵权使用。如果团队中有人发现一款名称相似的游戏，就要将其告知商标律师，判断是否构成侵权。你可以定期搜索整个社交游戏平台，或者让你的律师帮你做这件事情。律师还可以使用美国内外的监视新商标递交的监视服务，尽快识别那些潜在的新威胁。

一旦识别到潜在的侵权使用，你就需要处理这个问题。最典型的方法就是让你的律师调查情况，如果合适的话发送通知信件。理想情况下，这种解决方案便足够了，但是不排除需要进一步的法律程序。

回到上文提过的PastryPlay的例子，假如Fiona Frosting是负责《Sprinkle Harvest》的一名美工。某天晚上上网时她发现了侵权游戏，于是便告知了PastryPlay的CEO。CEO认为这款侵权游戏无足轻重，所以就忽视了这个问题。这会导致一系列潜在问题：

首先，PastryPlay确实决定后续推出更为流行的游戏，名为《Sprinkle Harbor》。《Sprinkle Harbor》开发者以Bill Baker游戏《Sprinkle Harvester》作为例表明PastryPlay的商标缺乏独特性，因而应该能够共存，因为《Sprinkle Harvest》已经与一款名称更为相似的游戏共存了。这就产生了新的难题，如果PastryPlay要提起诉讼的话，这种情况会让公司处于劣势。

其次，PastryPlay忽视了名为《Sprinkle Harvester》的游戏长达7年之久。在此期间，《Sprinkle Harvester》被行业巨头PlaySweet收购，后者更新了图像并启动了大型营销战略。现在作为竞争者，PastryPlay决定提起诉讼。但是PastryPlay等待的时间过长，现在已经为时过晚。

作为开发商，你的游戏名就是你最有价值的资产之一。游戏名的价值来源于用户对它们的辨识能力。市场中有相似名称的竞争者越多，你的名称所起到的作用就越小。所以，为维持这个价值而处理侵权行为至关重要。

总结

如果刚开始就妥当处理商标问题的话，可以节省很多麻烦。当然，最好从你的律师处直接咨询商标建议。但是也希望这篇文章能够在你处理游戏品牌问题上给予些许帮助。

游戏邦注：本文发稿于2010年8月27日，所涉时间、事件和数据均以此为准。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Trademarks for Social Games – a Recipe for Success

Sheppard Mullin

The rise of social games has changed the face of the gaming industry in countless ways. With lower barriers to entry than traditional game development, new titles are launching essentially non-stop, not only from larger companies, but from a multitude of start-ups as well.

As a game developer, you are creating a product that you believe is innovative and compelling. But how do you make your game stand out in this throng―and how do you protect yourself against the horde that will try to ride on your success? By using trademarks effectively to promote and protect your brands.

Ingredients for a Strong Trademark

Naming a new game can be a challenge. You want a name that stands out and draws players in, but you also want to tell potential new players something about the game you’re offering. One of the main problems that many developers encounter stems from this second desire—descriptiveness.

The strength of a trademark (its ability to identify the source of goods or services), is measured on a sliding scale, with generic words (“cake”) on one end, and purely fanciful marks, that is, words that have no inherent meaning, (“cakiala”) on the other. Generic words can’t be protected on their own as trademarks. Fanciful marks and arbitrary marks (words that have no relation to the goods on which they’re used) are the strongest trademarks.

In between these two extremes are the categories where most social game titles fall—descriptive and suggestive marks. The line between these two categories is pretty blurry. Descriptive marks, as the name suggests, describe a quality or characteristic of the goods. Suggestive marks, on the other hand, do not outright describe a quality of the goods, but merely suggest it.

Hypothetical example—PastryPlay is a successful new social game developer using its first rounds of funding to create a game where players plant and grow delicious magical cupcake plants. A descriptive name for this game might be “Cupcake Farm.” The name describes exactly what the content of the game is. In contrast, a suggestive name could be “Sprinkle Harvest.” The name evokes the content of the game without expressly describing it.

So why should you care whether your mark is descriptive or suggestive? Because suggestive marks are considered inherently distinctive and therefore automatically entitled to trademark protection. On the other hand, descriptive marks do not, on their own, merit full trademark protection. Only once a descriptive mark has been used and advertised extensively, so that it serves to identify that one specific game, can it get full trademark protection.

When a social game is published, it is instantly viewable by millions of potential players—and countless competitors. If a game is successful, chances are it will breed imitations. In the example above, PastryPlay can’t stop its competitors from coming out with their own cupcake-farming games. And because the terms “cupcake” and “farm” simply describe the content of the game, PastryPlay can’t prevent other developers from using those words in their game titles. Social gaming giant PlaySweet can then sweep in with its newest title “Cupcake Ranch,” and there’s nothing that PastryPlay can do to stop it. If PastryPlay had chosen a suggestive name, on the other hand, they would be in a good position to challenge anyone who used a confusingly similar title for another social game.

Sifting through the Competition

Once your company has chosen several potential names for your new game, it’s time to find out if you are the first person to use that trademark. In the United States, trademark rights are based on first use in commerce, so if someone has used anything confusingly similar to your potential name before you for related products, you could be in trouble.

Searching for prior trademark use is an absolutely necessary part of the branding process. Performing a trademark search before a game title (or other company name or product, for that matter) is adopted is exponentially less expensive—and annoying—than fighting a legal battle over your title at some point in the future. This is why you want to choose several potential names for a new game—it is entirely possible that you may be blocked from using one of the names by a prior use, particularly with the huge number of social games that are already on the market.

The searching stage is where you want to get your trademark attorney involved. It may seem simple to perform some quick Internet searches to find any really obvious obstacles, but a trademark attorney brings a couple of desirable qualities into play—knowledge of search techniques for a wide range of sources, including trademark databases, and the experience to know which search results are likely to cause conflicts.

In the social game space in particular, because the barriers to entry are so low, there are an incredibly large number of games out on the market. While many of these games are not huge success stories, and may have a limited number of players, trademark law doesn’t care how many monthly active users you have—only who used the mark first.

Suppose that PastryPlay didn’t perform any trademark searches before adopting the game title “Sprinkle Harvest.” The game is released, and thanks to creative genius, effective marketing, and word of mouth, it’s a huge success, with over a million monthly active users in just a few weeks. Unfortunately for PastryPlay, Bill Baker, a retired software engineer, coding in his spare time, had published a similar game called “Sprinkle Harvester” about a month before. His game isn’t as sophisticated or popular. He only has about 2,000 monthly active users. But if he files a lawsuit, he could force PastryPlay to change the name it has spent so much time and money promoting, and he could also be entitled to a lot of money in damages.

Prepare in Advance

The good news is that there are ways to protect your new game title before the game is published. The United States Patent and Trademark Office allows you to file an Intent-to-Use (“ITU”) trademark application. Essentially, this application allows you to reserve your rights in a trademark that you plan to use. Protection for ITU trademarks dates back to the moment the application was filed.

Let’s re-visit our prior situation, but with slightly different facts. PastryPlay settles on the name “Sprinkle Harvest” about halfway through its development process and immediately files an ITU trademark application for the title. Shortly after PastryPlay files its application, Bill Baker releases his “Sprinkle Harvester” game. PastryPlay then releases “Sprinkle Harvest” about a month later. In this scenario, PastryPlay is now in control, with the basis to claim trademark infringement against anyone using the name after its trademark application date, including Bill Baker, who will likely have to change his game title. And, because PastryPlay’s application was on record, and Bill had a duty to search trademark records before adopting his mark, he may now have to pay a higher amount in damages than if PastryPlay had simply used the mark first.

As you can see from this example, the filing date of an ITU application is incredibly important. By being proactive about your trademarks, you can gain the right to prevent future developers from using any titles that are confusingly similar to your own. The date from which you can first establish trademark rights could prove to be the difference between maintaining the goodwill of your brand or losing your investment.

You Have Your Cake. Now Eat it, Too.

Having trademark rights is all well and good, but you don’t maximize the benefit from having those rights unless you enforce them. Enforcement is an integral part of both maintaining your legal rights in a mark and retaining the distinctiveness of your brand.

The first step of enforcement is keeping an eye out for infringing uses. If someone on your team notices a game with a similar name, send it to your trademark attorney to find out if it’s going to be a problem. You can run periodic searches of social game platforms, or have your attorney do it for you. Your attorney can also order watching services that will monitor new trademark filings, both in the United States and abroad, in order to identify potential new threats as quickly as possible.

Once a potentially infringing use has been identified, you need to address it. The most typical way to do that is to have your attorney research the situation, then send a cease and desist letter if appropriate. Ideally the letter will lead to a quick resolution, but in some cases, further legal action may be necessary.

Back to the delicious dealings of PastryPlay—Fiona Frosting is an artist working on Sprinkle Harvest. While surfing the Internet one night, she discovers the infringing Sprinkle Harvester game and notifies PastryPlay’s CEO. The CEO decides that because the infringing game is so small, he will just ignore it. This leads to a couple of potential problems—

First, PastryPlay does decide to go after a more popular, nautical-cupcake game called “Sprinkle Harbor.” The makers of Sprinkle Harbor point to Bill Baker’s Sprinkle Harvester game as evidence that PastryPlay’s trademark lacks distinctiveness, and that coexistence should be possible, since Sprinkle Harvest is already coexisting with a more similar mark. This could cause complications if PastryPlay tries to bring a lawsuit, and almost certainly puts it in a weaker position when negotiating a settlement.

In a second scenario, PastryPlay has ignored the Sprinkle Harvester game until seven years later. During that time, Sprinkle Harvester was acquired by industry giant PlaySweet, which upgraded its graphics, and launched a massive marketing campaign. Now an active competitor, PastryPlay decides to sue. But PastryPlay has waited too long. PlaySweet is able to mount defenses based on implied consent, laches, and the statute of limitations for trademark claims, and it is now too late for PastryPlay to protect its brand.

As a developer, your game titles are one of your most valuable assets. The value in your titles comes from their ability to identify your game. The more competitors there are in the market with similar names, the less your title serves as a unique identifier. As a result, it’s vital to address any infringement in order to maintain that value.

Sweet Satisfaction

Trademarks are one of those areas where handling things properly from the beginning can save a lot of trouble and heartache down the road. There is no substitute for getting trademark advice directly from your attorney, but hopefully this article has given you a basic recipe to keep in mind while cooking up your game brands. (Source: Law of the Level)