Reserving game name.

Sure.

Go into iTunes Connect, add new application, fill in all the info and select the 'upload binary later' option.

 

Dont tell Khalid Shakid (or whatever his name is).

 

you can change it later and also the text need not be final (edit and upload the final images), do it best before you upload the binary.
(I just did the same thing for my upcoming game -- thanks for the hint also ! )
I

 

This is where a lurker logs into a dev account and reserves every " iName " he can think of.

 

Always thought they didn't reserve the name until a valid app was submitted for review. Name comes from the app bundle, not the description name that you give it in itunes connect store. I think. Right?

 

If I'm not wrong, it is possible to have two apps by the same name. At least for the App name that appears on your device. I'm not too sure if Apple is safeguarding the other one for you. Registering it as your trademark is still a better bet.

 

You can absolutely have 2 apps with the same name under the icon on the device. Happened to us. 3 weeks after we released our iBrawl boxing game some guy released a pathetic "iBrawl" pokemon whatver thingy. We sent countless notes to Apple about it and theur response was "get a lawyer and take them to court".

What you can't have is 2 apps with the same executable name or bundle name. They will reject your app for that reason. Which is why I'm fairly certain you would need to submit a valid app (even just for review) before you could stake a claim to that name.

 

Argh. Just been had by this. Noticed a game has been released today of the same name as my half finished game

Reading this thread I gather the conclusion was that you cannot reserve a name.

 

It doesn't matter if you register a trademark, if someone else is squatting on the name on the app store you will not be able to use it, at least without an incredible amount of hassle.

 

I noticed that my games name was taken too...shortly before finishing the development. Sad, but I've learned my lesson and reserved the name of the follow up game I started working on two weeks ago.

 

You're all just gonna have to get even more inventive!

As for iNames, let the lurkers have 'em, we're bored of that fad now.

 

In typical programmer fashion, I suggest we start using jNames now.

 

or _Names

 

Names and Brands

There are two issues here - name collisions and brand collisions. Name collisions are easy to solve. Just add something to the name - it can be as simple as adding a "." which is evident by the "flashlight", "flashlight.", and "flashlight ." apps.

The second is also easily solved. Just pick a trademarkable brand name and apply for a trademark. Later, if someone releases a game confusingly similar to your trademarkable brand name, then you can send them a nice (or nasty) note and request that they change their name (we got one of these). Of course, if they don't, then you might have to spend some real money, but if you were already planning to spend lots of money on advertising your brand, this may be ok.

So far, I don't see a reason to worry about this issue. A specific case might change my mind.

 

This issue was discuss a while ago...

And the moral of the story was to reserve your name early, if not you might get some nasty surprise the day you will want to submit your binary. This can be quite annoying if you have made big promotion for a while for your game with a certain name and then not be able to use it due to a stupid name squatter.

The worst in all this they are no way to find out who registered it beside asking Apple directly (and you better have your lawyer letter + trademark in place, if not they probably not going to do anything). On the web it easy to find who own a certain domain (by checking whois) and most of the time people will even a web page saying "Interested in this domain? Please contact us...". In the AppStore case they are no such thing.

If your name wasn't original it still plausible someone come up with the same name and have submit their apps/game already in iTunes Connect. And also they are those people that will do this on purpose to hurt someone else business. Let say you are making a new game that will compete with another popular one, and you already started to promote it with the name ABC. That competitor could easily decide to ruin your launch by going to register that name and variant of it just so its block for your own use. Then you will be stuck at last minute to do a major rename which is no fun at all.

But of course this is a conspiracy theory...

 

The only way to attempt to reserve your name is with a trademark application. You can't reserve it with Apple. They do not handle trademarks.

 

The point is, it's easy and free to reserve the app name so why not do it before you start talking about it in public?

I wouldn't want the hassle of trying to free up a name even if I did own the trademark and had law on my side.

 

Why you can't reserve a name with Apple, only the trademark office

Absolutely submit your app after you name it and before you start promoting it. Just realize that without a trademark app, this does not 'reserve' your CoolName and anyone else can come out with "CoolName 2" or "CoolName Pro" before you (or after you) and perhaps even stop you from using your CoolName name that you thought you "reserved".

It's hard to discuss this meaningfully with specific examples. Here's one I've discussed before. We thought we had a nice name for our multiplication flash card app. We called it "Brain Boost Multiply". Short and sweet with a nice semi-brandable name. It got featured by Apple in "What's New" (at a time when mere mortals could get featured here), so we considered ourselves quite lucky with our success. When we tried to release "Brain Boost Spelling", it got hung up for weeks (back when weeks was a long time, although it's a long time again, but that's a different topic). We then received a not-so-friendly email from CompanyX claiming ownership of the trademark "Brain Boost" and requesting all of our financial statements and money earned. We quickly looked and didn't see any registered trademarks for "Brain Boost*", nor did we see any active trademark applications for the same. Out of fear for all of our profits (ok, revenue, but that's a different topic), we quickly filed for a trademark on "Brain Boost Multiply". We then phoned CEO or legal counsel of CompanyX and discussed the matter to find out that a previously inactive trademark app had been 'reactivated' for "Brain Booster". We also noticed that CompanyY also had an active trademark app for "Brain Boost Gamma Wave" and "Brain Boost Beta Wave". Well, while Company X was big, Company Y was bigger, and we didn't want to really get anywhere near this fight. We also didn't think "Brain Boost" was particularly brandable because a "brainbooster" is a descriptive term, at least in the US. So, we changed the name of our Brain Boost Multiply app to Brain Blaze Multiply (as an aside, brainblaze.com owns a registered trademark/servicemark on "Brain Blaze", but it's not confusing to mobile software) and went on down the road. Our Brain Blaze Spelling app was approved a few days later. CompanyX did eventually get a registered trademark on "Brain Booster", but their Brain Booster game was not successful and they eventually disowned it.

If someone has another example, or questions about this one, I'd be happy to continue the discussion. Every developer should understand this stuff at least as well as they understand coding.

p.s. For those wanting to continue their education, head over to http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/index.jsp