Hi everyone. We are currently making a new app and some of our name choices were already taken. We kept trying different names and then finally "Bloons!" (without the quotes) worked! Will we get into any trouble by using this name? Does Ninja Kiwi own the copyrights to the name? We just took their name "bloons" and added an "!" to the end of it. Are we allowed to do this? I just want to make sure so that we don't get into any trouble! Thanks!
You should consult with a lawyer who specializes in TM, patents, and copyrights. I like to live by the rule, if it's too good to be true, it probably is. If I wasn't planning on the app being popular, I probably would take my chances. But if it did get popular, and Ninja decided to take legal action, capital (time and money) will be lost defending yourself, for counsel, compromising, marketing a new name, redesign, resubmission, etc
Or come up with a name for your game that isn't a direct ripoff of another (very popular) game. It's going to look very very bad.
Let me spare you a lot of trouble. Here's what's going to happen if you use that name: 1) Your app will either be immediately rejected, or 2) As soon as your app is up, someone will alert Digital Goldfish, who licensed the game and name from Ninja Kiwi 3) They will send you a scary cease and desist for violating their trademark and contact Apple 4) Apple will immediately remove your app 5) And you're back to square one. There's really no need to get into legalities here, because I can guarantee you that the above will happen. But if you want legalities, here's a registered trademark for Bloons: http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4009:5imd50.2.3
Agreed. I'm no dev but from a customer's point of view, I'd rather buy a game that doesn't sound exactly like another game, because unless I knew that you guys decided on that and weren't trying to copycat Bloons it'd look like you were major copycats. What is the game about? Maybe we can help come up with names for you so you can avoid this.
Bloons! wasn't the original name we had. We tried our first few options and they were all taken (even though we couldn't find anything with those names on the App Store). The game is a casual pick-up and play shooter. Not a FPS shooter but more of a game where its about reaction and getting the high score. If anyone has any name suggestions, we'd be happy to listen! Thanks for the comments so far!
Because when I went into iTunes Connect and added a new application, the name was available. Apple allows each app to have a different name, even if it's similar to an existing one. I realize the Ninja Kiwi probably has the trademarks for the name, which is why I am currently looking for another name (our other options were taken).
Just curious, did you come up with the name and then discover it was being used, or did you already know about Bloons and felt it fit your game as a title?
We originally wanted nothing to do with "Bloons". We know the game and love it. But then after trying so many things with the word "Balloons" they were all taken. At the end we decided to just try Bloons! (we thought we had no chance), but when it said the name wasn't taken, we were all amazed! Now we have the name, but we don't really want to use it for our app because of possible trademarks.
Not a "possible", the name is trademarked for sure: Bloons at the US Patent and Trademark office If the guys who own the name are nice, they'd file a DMCA takedown notice with Apple. If they're not, they'd wait 'till you'd made some money before they sued.
@Frank Lol, you said it brother! Have some ethics, just because you CAN is not a good reason in and of itself.
i wish everyone would stop talking about lawsuits and things because it is rare that anyone actually does sue anyone. filing a lawsuit costs money whether you win or lose, its usually a big waste of time and money. about the only people who actually threaten to file a lawsuit are the ones who have made a career out doing it and the most they do is threaten. the most they will do is send you a letter telling you to stop selling the app using the name then. they cant wait until you have made a little money because that would mean that they were not defending their trademark properly and that could result in them losing that trademark at the very least it would weaken their case. however if they send you that letter and you blatantly disregard it and continue to violate the trademark then they would have to take further action either sending more letters or maybe a lawsuit. this is also because of that same obligation to defend the trademark. i would say it is best not to use the name because it would most likely violate the trademark because the name "bloons!" is very likely to cause confusion among consumers which would force the developers of "bloons" to action. also it could cause bad sentiments with potential customers losing you sales
After spending all the time on the game why not spend a little more on an original name that you can be proud of.
I don't think anybody really read the first post properly. We tried looking for other names but they were all taken. We don't plan on using the name, but we just thought we would check to see if it was even a possiblity as a last resort. We will not use the name for our app store release but we just wanted to see what everyone had to say about it
i would think of something else beside Bloons! i mean when someone looks at the name, they would clearly think its a new bloon game only to find they used ninjakiwi's name and get pissed off... try something else
