游戏邦在:
杂志专栏:
gamerboom.com订阅到鲜果订阅到抓虾google reader订阅到有道订阅到QQ邮箱订阅到帮看

为你的电子游戏名字注册商标的5个原因

发布时间:2015-09-25 11:04:30 Tags:,,,,

作者:Stephen McArthur

我经常看到的电子游戏开发者所犯的一个大问题便是太迟为自己的游戏名字注册商标,有时候甚至根本未注册商标。像面向PC的Steam,面向iOS的App Store,以及面向Android的Google Play等平台都让一些小型公司和独立开发者能够更轻松地创造并发行自己的电子游戏。多亏了这些平台,如今的电子游戏市场几乎是面向所有拥有一台计算机并想要创造并发行自己的软件的人而开放。在2014年,每天有将近500款iOS游戏以及250款Android游戏会出现在市场上。

然而,随着创造并发行自己的游戏变得越来越简单,别人去复制你的游戏并从你的辛苦劳作中获得收益也变得越来越简单。就像现在我们可以在市场上看到许多《Flow Free》,《Threes》,《2048》以及《Flappy Bird》等游戏的复制品。

app store(from gamasutra)

app store(from gamasutra)

本身就是《Threes》的复制品的《2048》便是通过为名字注册了商标而能够避免其它复制品再复制它的名字。

创造了复制品的开发者并不能提升游戏整体的用户数量。事实上这些复制者将会侵占你辛辛苦苦获得的市场份额,并且掠夺原本属于你的收益。所以对于现在的开发者来说,为你的电子游戏注册商标并保护自己的品牌变得更加重要。

什么是商标?

商标是指“一个单词,一段话,一个logo或其它制造商或卖家用于区分自己的产品与别人的产品的图像标示。”商标可以是像“任天堂”这样的单词也可以是索尼的“Greatness Awaits”这样的标语。

商标并不局限于像“Pokémon”或“Tetris”这样的特殊词语。任何英文单词都可以注册商标。例如“Apple”便注册了商标并保护了其电脑和软件的使用权。“Flow”也注册了商标去保护《Flow Free》等手机游戏。从根本上看来,商标的目的便是通过创造清楚的品牌识别去保护消费者,确保他们清楚自己购买的产品的来源。

我是否需要真正“注册”一个商标?

从技术上来看,你可以在游戏名字旁边添加一个TM,而不需要进行商标注册,但是这么做的话你便不能获得你们公司所需要的所有保护。你最好能够向美国专利和商标局(USPTO)注册属于自己的商标。然后将TM升级为?符号。只要拥有这一符号你便能够避开所有复制者,并且在任何官司中也有理可依,即避免其他人想要使用自己的商标去击倒你的游戏。

我应该何时去注册商标?

现在!最理想的情况是,你能在游戏发行前便注册号商标。如此你便能最大限度地保护游戏免受别人的复制以及其它种种问题。实际上,你甚至可以在游戏发行前3年便为它注册好商标。这意味着你能够在开发过程中便保护好游,。这能够有效避免当你计划使用一个游戏名字好几年,并围绕着它创造游戏,购买一个网站,投钱进行市场营销并吸引用户注意时,却发现其他人也使用了同样的名字去宣传自己的游戏。

如果你的游戏已经准备好发行,但是你却还未为其注册商标,那么一切便会太晚了。如果能够越快注册商标就越好。

为你的电子游戏名字注册商标的原因:

1.避免与其它游戏具有相似名字而引起的种种问题

当你雇佣一位律师为你的电子游戏名字注册商标时,该律师将调查你所使用的名字今后可能会遇到的各种问题。这种调查是非常必要的,原因有两个。首先,它能够避免你在游戏发行后其它游戏因为你的游戏名字而对你提起控诉。其次,这也能够避免你在游戏发行后遭遇需要改名的危险。注册商标能够让你拥有游戏名字的所有权,并避免其它公司强迫你去改变名字。发行后再改名有可能导致你失去大量用户,并且也会引起搜索引擎优化,负面评论,市场营销问题等等麻烦的出现。

2.游戏名字的所有权

商标注册能够避免别人窃取你的游戏名字并将其用于自己的电子游戏中。就像我们无法想象另一款也叫《愤怒的小鸟》的游戏吧?为你的电子游戏名字注册商标能够阻止别人去窃取它。除此之外,只有注册了商标,USPTO才能够阻止其他人再注册你的游戏名字作为自己的商标。

游戏名字的商标不仅能够保护这个名字,同时它也能够避免任何与之相近的名字。就像“Flappy Bird”的商标也会阻止那些想要使用“Floppy Bird”,“Flappu Birds”等相似的名字。然而《Flappy Bird》在发行时却并未注册商标。如果开发者能够提前为这款游戏名字注册商标,Google Play商店中便不会出现如下情况:

clones(from gamasutra)

clones(from gamasutra)

3.避免复制

尽管从法律意义上看,商标只能保护你的游戏名字而非游戏本身,但是如果你为游戏名字注册了商标并使用?符号保护了游戏,那么复制者便不会再那么猖獗。这是因为注册商标能够清楚地告诉别人这并不是人人都可以使用的东西—-你已经雇佣了一位律师去保护游戏的知识产权了。同时,一些较单纯的人也不清楚商标只能保护到游戏名字。在某些情况下这能够帮你阻挡掉一些复制者。大多数遭受复制的游戏都是那些创造者在一开始懒得为游戏注册商标的内容。不想保护自己的知识产权其实就等于在游戏的名字上添加一个“拿走吧!”的大红色标示!

《Threes》和《2048》便都是因为未注册商标而导致无数复制品涌入Google Play和iOS商店中。

4.诉讼优势

尽早注册商标(游戏邦注:最好是在游戏发行前)能够避免被牵扯进昂贵的诉讼案中。如果你因为游戏名字而被迫前往法院,那么拥有一个注册商标便会是你的一大优势。如果你的游戏名字因为与别人相似而遭遇挑战,你的注册商标便能够保证你的合法性以及你对于该标示的独占权。如果能够呈现一个可靠的注册商标,你便能够在法律诉讼中要求获得更多赔偿。

5.投资者和风险投资家

风险投资家和较大的游戏发行商都非常清楚知识产权的价值,而如果你已经经历种种法律条框去保护自己的IP,他们便会更乐意投资你的公司。此外,如果你的游戏已经注册了商标,那么其它公司便会为了其它相关产品或将你的游戏使用于其它媒体上而想要获得你的游戏授权。商标本身便是一种非常有价值的资产,它能够提供给你具有竞争性的长期优势。像《愤怒的小鸟》等游戏便因为注册了商标与版权而能够提供商品,桌面游戏,电影等授权。

额外奖励:世界范围的保护

拥有美国的注册商标让你能够获得全球范围的商标保护。像Steam,App Store和Google Play等平台让你能够拥有来自世界各地的消费者并面对世界各地的竞争者,这点是不容小觑的。

注册一个商标需要消费多少成本?

我会建议你只使用一位律师去研究商标法,并避免使用像LegalZoom等自助服务。就像你通常都不会聘请一位全科医生或独自进行自己的心脏直视手术,在知识产权法中也是如此。注册商标通常需要花费你1千美元的成本。这既包括给政府的钱也包括聘请律师的费用。你可以为自己的游戏名字,logo,工作室的名字,以及你用于宣传游戏所使用的任何标语注册商标。当考虑到一个注册商标对于你的电子游戏的保护范围时,你便会觉得这是非常有价值的商业投资。就像如果《愤怒的小鸟》未能获得品牌保护的话,它也就不会成为现在拥有数十亿美元的大品牌。

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

Five Reasons to Trademark Your Video Game Today

by Stephen McArthur

One of the biggest mistakes I commonly see video game developers make is waiting too long to trademark their game name or even not trademarking it at all. Platforms like Steam for PC, the App Store for iOS, and Google Play for Android have made it easier for small companies and independent developers to create and distribute video games. Thanks to these platforms, the video game market is open to virtually anyone with a computer to create and distribute their software. In 2014, close to 500 iOS and 250 Android games launched every day.[1]

However, as easy as it has become to create and distribute your own unique game, it is even easier for someone to copy your game and profit off of your hard work. This is evident from the numerous clones of popular video games like Flow Free, Threes, 2048, and Flappy Bird that crowd the market.

2048, itself a clone of Threes, could have at least prevented countless other clones from copying its name with a simple trademark registration.

Clone-creating developers do not increase the total user base of a game. Rather, these cloners cannibalize the market that you’ve worked so hard to build, diverting your revenue without adding anything new to the marketplace. It is more important now than ever to trademark your video game and protect your brand.

What is a Trademark?

A trademark is “a word, phrase, logo, or other graphic symbol used by a manufacturer or seller to distinguish its product or products from those of others.”[2] Trademarks can be a word like “Nintendo” or a slogan such as Sony’s “Greatness Awaits.”

Trademarks are not limited to unique words like “Pokémon” or “Tetris.” Any English word can be trademarked. For instance, “Apple” is trademarked and protected for use on computers and software. “Flow” is trademarked for the “Flow Free” line of mobile games. Ultimately, the goal of trademarking is to protect the consumer by creating clear brand identification so they can easily identify the source of the products they are purchasing.

Do I Have to Actually “Register” a Trademark?

Technically, you can put a TM next to your game title without filing a trademark registration, but that will not give you anything close to all of the protection your company needs. You should always take the next step and register your trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Then you can level up the TM into an ?. Having the ? symbol wards off copiers and cloners, gives you extra teeth to enforce your trademark in court, and makes it less likely that someone else will be able to use their own trademark to shut down your game.

When Should I Register a Trademark?

Right now. Ideally, you should file your trademark registration before the game is released. That way, your game has maximum protection against clones and other issues that may arise. In fact, you can trademark your game title up to three years before your game is even released. That means you can secure a game name as early in the development process as you want, locking the name up for years until you finally release your game. This is incredibly useful for avoiding the situation where you plan to use a game name for over a year, build your game around it, buy a website, and pour money into marketing and consumer awareness, only to have someone else beat you to the market with a game of the same name. If you didn’t register your trademark well ahead of time, you would be out of luck.

If your game is already released for some time, yet you never bothered to register the trademark, it is not too late. However, the faster the trademark is registered, the better.

Reasons to Trademark Your Video Game Title:

1. Prevent Problems Arising from Choosing a Game Title too Similar to Other Titles

When you hire an attorney to register your video game title as a trademark, the attorney will do a comprehensive search for any future problems that the chosen name may encounter. This search is essential for two reasons. First, it can save you from an expensive lawsuit after the game’s release when another company has issues with your game title. Second, it will prevent you from having to change your game title after release. A registered trademark establishes your right to the game title and can prevent other companies from forcing you to change it. Changing your game title after release will result in loss of customers, complications with search engine optimization, negative reviews, marketing issues, etc.

2. Exclusive Use of Your Game Title

Trademark registration protects you against people who will steal your game title and use it for their own video game. We could not imagine another video game called Angry Birds, right? Having a federally registered trademark for your video game title will prevent others from stealing it. In addition, only if you register your trademark will the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office reject other people from registering your game title as their own trademark.

The trademark of your game title not only protects the exact name, but it also protects anything that is “confusingly similar.” A trademark for “Flappy Bird” would stop copiers from using “Floppy Bird”, “Flappy B1rds”, and other similar titles. However, Flappy Bird was not trademarked on release. If its developer had registered a trademark of the game title, the Google Play store would not look like this:

3. Protection Against Clones

Even though trademarks technically only protect your game title and not the game itself, your video game is less likely to get cloned if you trademark the name and protect your game with the ? symbol. That’s because the registered trademark sends a strong signal that your game is not up for grabs—you have hired an attorney to protect your game’s intellectual property. Also, unsophisticated parties may not understand that the trademark only extends to the game’s title. In any case, it wards off some cloners. It’s not a coincidence that the most widely cloned games are those games where the original creator has been lazy about registering and enforcing their intellectual property. The unwillingness to protect your intellectual property essentially puts a flashing red “Take this!” sign on the title screen of your game.

“Threes” and “2048” were not registered trademarks which has helped result in thousands of clones throughout Google Play and the iOS Store.

4. Litigation Advantage

Registering your trademark early, ideally before release, can prevent others from dragging you into an expensive litigation. If, however, you are forced into court in a dispute over your video game title, having a registered trademark is a great advantage. If your game title is challenged as too similar to someone else’s, your registered trademark registration works in your favor by creating a presumption that your trademark is valid and that you have exclusive use to the mark. Your trademark also becomes incontestable after five years. And showing a valid registration increases the amount of damages you can request in an enforcement action.

5. Investors and Venture Capitalists

Venture capitalists and huge game publishers know the value of intellectual property and are far more likely to invest in your company if you have jumped through the legal hoops to protect all of your IP. Furthermore, only if your game is trademarked will other companies approach you to license your game for related merchandise or to use in other media. Trademarks alone are a valuable asset that provide a competitive long-term advantage. Games like “Angry Birds”, for example, are able to license merchandise, board games, movies, etc. because they have registered their trademarks and copyrights.

Bonus: Worldwide Protection

Having a United States trademark registration allows you to file for trademark protection worldwide. Considering platforms like Steam, the App Store, and Google Play are available to consumers and competitors across the globe, this should not be underestimated.

How Much Will it Cost to Register My Trademark?

I recommend only using an attorney who specializes in trademark law and avoiding do-it-yourself services like LegalZoom. You wouldn’t hire a general practitioner doctor to perform open-heart surgery, or ever consider doing it yourself, and the same consideration holds true for intellectual property law. Filing the registration for your trademark usually costs about $1,000. That includes both the government filing fees and attorneys’ fees. You can register a trademark for your game title, the logo, your studio’s name, and any slogans you use to market your game. Considering the amount of protection a registered trademarks grants your video game, it is a valuable business investment. Angry Birds wouldn’t be a billion dollar brand if it had simply gone the way of Flappy Bird with its brand protection.(source:Gamasutra

 


上一篇:

下一篇: