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为什么你需要在Kickstarter活动前为游戏名字注册商标

发布时间:2016-05-11 11:23:09 Tags:,,,

作者:Stephen McArthur

我们的许多客户会使用像Kickstarter或Fig等众筹平台去为自己的游戏募集资金或进行市场营销。但是他们往往都带有一种错觉,即认为一旦自己成功在Kickstarter为游戏募集到资金,他们便拥有比其它后来出现并开始使用相同游戏名字的人优先权利。他们的这一想法是源自商标法中有关产品名字(在这里便是游戏名字)保护的错误理解,即关于商业上的名字使用,或填写一份商标注册申请,甚至是在真正使用之前以有意图的使用为基础的申请。

kickstarter(from admin5)

kickstarter(from admin5)

不幸的是在Kickstarter上使用游戏名字并成功获取项目资金并不等同于你在商业环境中使用游戏名字,所以这不能赋予你有关名字的所有权。关于“商业使用”的相关法律并未出现在众筹活动中,这也是法律未能跟上技术发展脚步的另一个典型例子。这意味着尽管你最先使用某个游戏名字,并且可能已经通过这个独一无二的名字获得游戏资金,但是其他可能早你一个月发行了游戏的人也仍然能够使用相同的名字,并且他们还可以通过自己注册商标或真正开始销售游戏而垄断了这个游戏名字的使用权。

我之前已经写过了有关为你的电子游戏注册商标的益处。但众筹网站所呈现又是一种不同的情况。在Kickstarter活动期间你会发现自己被自己所创造的独一无二的游戏名字所欺骗了:

游戏产业中的其他人在看到你的众筹活动时便会意识到你正在使用与他们计划在之后使用的名字一样或相似。于是他们便会快速找到商标律师并马上注册你所使用的游戏名字。如此你的立场便会很尴尬了。即如果你想要发行与你在众筹活动期间所使用的游戏名字一样的名字,你便算是侵犯了他们的IP。

有些人可能真的不够了解Kickstarter并在你发行游戏前发行了与你们游戏名字相同名字的游戏。因为他们是最先在商业上使用该名字的人,所以他们便拥有这一名字的所有权,而你并没有。关于游戏名字的专有商标权甚至适用于跨平台游戏,即意味着已经在自己手机游戏中使用你们游戏名字的开发者也可以在其PC或主机游戏版本中使用改名字。暴雪便在PC游戏《守望先锋》中遭遇了这样的问题,即一家最先发行了名为《守望先锋》手机游戏的公司对他们提出了诉讼。

不幸的是USPTO(游戏邦注:美国专利商标局)并未将成功的众筹活动当成一种“商业使用”。你不得不面对当前存在的系统而不是你想要使用的系统。所以如果你真的想要创造一款成功的游戏并创建一个有价值的IP,你就必须在进行Kickstarter活动或在大家注意到你的Kickstarter活动前填写好以意图使用的商标注册申请。

如果没有任何商标保护便在众筹活动上向世人展示你的游戏名字,你便等要承担着将自己的游戏名字和品牌IP拱手让给别人的风险。你可以在真正发行游戏前3年便填好一份以意图使用的商标注册申请,并在填写申请的那天起开始提供给自己的游戏名字真正完整的保护。

本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转发,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

Why You Should Always Register the Trademark on your Kickstarter Game

by Stephen McArthur

Many of our clients fund and market their games using crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter or Fig. They almost always have the same misconception: once they successfully fund a game on Kickstarter, then they would have superior rights to someone who comes along later and begins using the game title. This is based on the otherwise correct understanding that trademark law gives protection over a product name (here, a game title) to anyone who either (1) uses the name in commerce, or (2) files an application to register it as a trademark, even on an intent-to-use basis up to three years before any actual use.

Unfortunately, putting a game title on Kickstarter and successfully funding the project does not count as using the game title in commerce and thus gives you zero rights to the name. The law for what counts as “use in commerce” was not written with crowdfunding in mind, and this is simply another example of law not being caught up with technology. That means that even though you were the first to use the game title and may have already successfully funded the game with a brilliantly unique name, you can still be sued by someone who, just a month before you release the game, gains a trademark monopoly over the game title by filing their own trademark registration or beginning their sales of the game.

I have previously written about the benefits generally of registering trademarks for video game titles here. But crowdfunding sites present a unique situation. There are several different scenarios during a Kickstarter campaign where you can find yourself swindled out of your own unique game title that you created:

Someone else in the games industry sees your campaign and realizes that you are using the exact same (or similar) name to the name they plan to use one day in the future. They rush out to a trademark attorney and immediately register the name of your game on an intent-to-use basis. You are out of luck. If you release the game with the same name you used in your crowdfunding campaign, then you will be infringing their IP.
Someone innocently, and with no knowledge of your Kickstarter, releases any kind of game with the same or similar name before you release your game. Since they are the first person to legally use the brand name in commerce, they have all rights to the name and you have none. The monopolistic trademark right over the game name even applies cross-console, meaning someone who begins using your name for a mobile game has rights over your use of the name for P.C. or console. We saw Blizzard run into this problem when its Overwatch P.C. game was sued by a company who first released an unrelated mobile game named Overwatch.
Bad actors, also known as trademark squatters, see that your Kickstarter campaign has raised millions of dollars and that you have not yet filed a trademark application. They easily file a trademark application for the game title on an intent-to-use basis. They then hold the title hostage from you and threaten to sue you for using it, unless you pay them a few hundred thousand dollars.
The icing on the cake is that the guy who fleeced your brand name from you may now receive the benefit of the press, marketing, and customer goodwill since their game has the same title as yours.

It is unfortunate that the USPTO does not consider a successful crowdfunding campaign to be a “use in commerce”. But you have to work within the system that exists, not the system you want. Thus, if you are serious about creating a successful game and building a valuable IP, then you must file an intent-to-use trademark application before your Kickstarter campaign or as soon as possible after it becomes clear that the Kickstarter is raising enough money to afford the investment.

By showing the world your game title in a crowdfunding campaign without any trademark protection, you are seriously risking ownership of the game name and the brand’s IP. An intent-to-use trademark application can be filed more than three years before your game’s actual release date and gives you full trademark protection over the game title from the day you file the application. For the Kickstarter campaigns that can afford the investment, I rate immediately registering the trademark somewhere between “strongly recommend” and “mandatory”.(source:gamasutra

 


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