注册商标是一个涉及法律的问题，但它的严格定义却往往不为大众所知。日前，《涂鸦跳跃》（Doodle Jump）开发商Lima Sky声称“涂鸦”是他们的注册商标，并向在App Store中带有该字眼的游戏开发商发出警告，要求他们更改游戏名称，否则就是侵权行为。

doodle-jump

据游戏邦了解，在苹果App Store中，名称含“涂鸦”二字的游戏共有730款，这些开发商对Lima Sky的这一要求反应不一。《涂鸦怪物》（Doodle Monster）的开发商从苹果得到消息后，表示有打算更改游戏名称。

而《涂鸦曲棍球》（Doodle Hockey）的开发商Acceleroto工作室就不那么容易妥协了，该工作室发言人Bryan Duke认为，Lima Sky是在去年11月2日注册的是“涂鸦跳跃”商标，并不是“涂鸦”一词的商标。他还声称自己已经向一些律师咨询过了， Igor（Lima Sky公司CEO）根本没资格要求他们改名，其他“涂鸦”游戏开发商应该联合起来与Lima Sky抗争到底，

这并非App Store的第一起注册商标纠纷，去年韩国发行商Com2uS注册了“塔防”（Tower Defense）商标，也同样迫使许多游戏更名，将原名称中的“Tower Defense”二字简写成了TD。

Lima Sky创始人Igor Pusenjak的说法则是，美国专利商标局要求他们保护好自己的商标，否则就很可能被侵权。

游戏邦认为，“涂鸦”和“涂鸦跳跃”这两者的商标定义仍有很大的讨论空间，如果只是享有其中一者的注册商标，就更难说清孰是孰非了。

苹果拥有将违规游戏清理出App Store的权利，正当大家还在猜测苹果是否会对这730款游戏采取同样措施的时候，这件事又发生了一个大转机，Lima Sky现在已经改口称，“我们并不是在争‘涂鸦’一词的商标。”

需要指出的是，苹果自己就曾经使用“涂鸦游戏”一词对App Store中的产品进行归类，苹果的立场已经由此可见一斑。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

Trademarks are one of those issues that by definition are highly legal and hence not well understood by the general public.

It’s a context that makes the news that Doodle Jump developer Lima Sky has been sending out warnings, via Apple, to those studios who have released games on the App Store with Doodle in the title – 730 according to 148apps – a tricky one to call.

Hammer for a nut?

The news broke last night on the Touch Arcade forums, with the developer of Doodle Monster revealing it was planning to change its title having received warning from Apple.

However, Bryan Duke of developer Acceleroto, has revealed he’s been in debate over this issue for several months over his game Doodle Hockey.

“Lima Sky owns the trademark for Doodle Jump, registered November 2, 2010. Lima Sky currently has a ‘design only’ trademark published for opposition for the main character of their game. Lima Sky does not own the trademark for the word ‘doodle’,” he explains.

Duke goes on to say that all companies with a Doodle game in the App Store should stand up to Lima Sky.

“Every lawyer I’ve spoken with thinks Igor [Lima Sky CEO] doesn’t have a leg to stand on here,” he claims.

“If we all stand together on this, the little guy won’t be so little. I’m fighting this. You should too.”

Protection of the law

However, there is some precedent for trademarks being enforced on the Apple App Store. Korean publisher Com2uS owns the term ‘Tower Defense’, forcing many games to switch their titles to use the initials TD last year.

As for Lima Sky, we spoke to founder Igor Pusenjak late last night, who briefly commented, “We are required by USPTO [US Patent and Trademark Office] to monitor and police our trade marks. If we don’t, we lose them.”

Of course, the difference between enforcing a trademark on the word Doodle in a game title and on the term Doodle Jump presents a large degree of latitude, especially if you only have a trademark on one of them.

Indeed, the real joker in the pack is Apple itself, which as it’s proved in the past, has the ability and willingness to pull games off the App Store without much reason or redress – although whether it would do that to 730 games seems highly questionable.

The ongoing story concerning Doodle Jump developer Lima Sky’s ‘monitoring and policing’ of its trademarks has taken another turn.

Lima Sky’s Igor Pusenjak has made it very clear what the company is, and what it’s not, looking to do.

“We are not claiming ownership of the trademark for ‘doodle’,” he told Pocket Gamer.

Doodle on the dotted line

This chimes with the view that while Lima Sky has owned the US trademark for the name Doodle Jump since November 2010, it doesn’t – and isn’t claiming – jurisdiction over the general term ‘doodle’.

Of course, pragmatically the situation can change in relation to the App Store, depending on Apple’s view. It will remove any doodle games it thinks infringe on Lima Sky’s trademark.

However, as has been pointed out, Apple itself has used the term Doodle Games on the App Store to feature a selection of games with the word doodle in the title, which obviously could be used to suggest the generic nature of the term.

Still, as Pusenjak himself says, “More to come”.

Certainly, we hope someone clarifies the situation soon. （source:pocketgamer）