About games' name copyright

[ManuelFLara]

After carefully writing every aspect of a game idea I recently had, I came up with a name for it that's just perfect for the concept, but I found in google an Atari game with exactly the same name, although the gameplay is completely different.
Do you think I could have problems using that name, knowing this game can't be bought anywhere? What about adding some subfix to the game, like "Reign of Chaos" after "WarCraft III"?
I know I could think another name but it won't be better!

[Omega]

I will be straight-forward like Simon Cowell on "American Idol": I have an idea for a time machine, what should I call it?

Making a web site, making a flash animation, making a 3D model of one of the objects, does not a game make.

You haven't even done any prototyping and playtesting yet, so how do you know you won't have to change aspects about it that might lead you to think of a better name?

Call the game whatever you want that motivates you to finish it.

Don't visit these forums again until you finish your game because, otherwise, you'll never finish. :) Then ask this question again. :0)

[Fantus]

I have to agree with Omega. It sounds harsh, but it's really the truth.

[milieu]

It all depends if Atari still holds a trademark on the name. You can search the US Patent & Trademark Office at http://www.uspto.gov/, and see if their trademark is still active. If Atari is not making the game, they may have let the trademark lapse, in which case it should be available.

If they have an active trademark, then it's more risky. Atari's stance is very aggressive on trademarks. If you release a completely different game under the same name, will the courts see it as infringement? Hard to say. Can you afford to find out?

I don't think adding a suffix will change anything, because people might think your game is a sequel to theirs.

[Bluecat]

You can get pinged on trademark if your name is similar enough to the other name. The trademark holder can claim that your name is confusing to customers, so that they might think your game is the same as theirs. Microsoft sued Lindows on this premise, and I think there have been lawsuits against Tetris clones that are named Tet* or *ris.

As has been said before, it's not worth the risk, unless you have really deep pockets.

[arcadetown]

Don't visit these forums again until you finish your game because, otherwise, you'll never finish. :) Then ask this question again. :0)
Yup... note to self, get back to work, get back to work, get back to work.

[ManuelFLara]

You haven't even done any prototyping and playtesting yet, so how do you know you won't have to change aspects about it that might lead you to think of a better name?
I don't know, but I'm asking this in case I don't get another good name, but the game would need to change A LOT in order to not fit that name.

Looking at the US Patent & Trademark Office's database it seems the trademark is DEAD, so there's no problem then? I'm not from the US so I don't know much about its laws.

It's curious noticing there's no problem with equally-named songs or albums (I'm not sure about movies).

[Fry Crayola]

Don't think there's a problem with movies either.

I guess your best choice is to not worry about it until the game's near done, or done. Unless the name is somehow integral to the gameplay, you'll be fine.

[BlueWaldo]

Don't visit these forums again until you finish your game because, otherwise, you'll never finish.

I like to think these forums motivate me to work on my game.

[Mark Fassett]

I waste more time here... Checking the forums... coming back an hour later "has anything changed?"... repeat every hour (or every half hour)...

I would avoid using a name similar to a previous game if at all possible, especially if it is relatively popular, not just because of trademark issues, but I really think that it's important for the name of a game to be somewhat unique. I want people to find my game when they search for it, not some other game with the same name. Find something else now, while you still haven't released. You'll be happier.

[Hiro_Antagonist]

I too think you shouldn't worry too much about your name yet. We worked under the project name "Fantasy Wars" for about half of our product cycle, and we only went through the process of determining our final name after the game has more than enough tangible identity (graphics, gameplay, etc.) for us to look at the product and say "yes, this name *feels* right." There's no way I would have chosen that name at the project's outset, and I'm quite sure I would have settled on a name I ultimately liked less.

Also, try to make your game's name as unique as possible. I love our game's name ("Land of Legends") on many levels, but I've gotten some well-deserved flak for choosing a name so close to previous games ("Lands of Lore", for example).

-Hiro_Antagonist

[ErikH2000]

I like to think these forums motivate me to work on my game.
Yeah, I like to think that too, but I know I waste too much time here that I could use for working. I think I should just stop reading this forum until the end of the workday.

Okay, from now on that is what I'll do. If anybody sees me post on a weekday before 7pm Pacific Standard Time, give me a severe chastisement. Please! (This post doesn't count.) Or even if you just see my name in the list of users browsing the forum, you should yell at me for being worthless wannabe slackabout trash.

Going to work now.

-Erik

[DaveMyers]

This definitely sounds like a cart before the horse situation. I cannot for the life of me understand why any game would have to completely change just because you cannot use the name you have chosen.

Mark's comment is spot-on. If you google for your game name and come up with nothing, that's money.

[Chaster]

Back when I first started making my own games, I would spend days - sometimes over a week, trying to figure out "just the right name" for a game before the game had even moved past prototype (many times, before it had even moved past "simple game design on a one page document"..)

Flash forward to today...

My current game is named "Game3". (Game3 because it is based on the 3rd iteration of the current framework I am using, not because it's my 3rd game.. It's more like my 10th..)

Seriously, don't worry about the game name until you've reached at least alpha stage. It's a waste of time. Also, I find that sometimes putting a specific name on the game before its' reached a relatively stable playing state puts unnecessary "design blinders" on you when you're developing the game (for some unknown subconscious reason...)

Chaster

[James C. Smith]

I never like to pick the name upfront. I find that games always evolve as you develop them. An extreme case is Wik & the Fable of Souls. It started out to be a missile command clone and then things slowly changed one by one until it had nothing to do with that concept in the end. Big Kahuna Reef was always planned to be a match 3 game, and in the end it turned out to be a match 3 game, but many little things changed along the way. It was originally going to have a “shopping list” of goals on each level. The bolder dash style diagonal tumbling and the net were not part of the original concept.

I prefer that the name captures the overall feel of the final game (not the game that we set out to make originally). Because of this, I always insist that the game in development must NOT have final name. I always use working titles that are so horrible everyone knows it is not the real name. We don’t pick a real name until the game is very close to being finished. Ricochet Lost Worlds (the sequel to Ricochet) was internally known as “Ricochet Blue”. Wik & the Fable of Souls was known as “Bug Eater”. Big Kahuna Reef was known as “Ocean Quest”. Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader is better known to me as “XRPG”. Even when a “Final” name is decided on, I don’t change the source code to use the new same. I have been burned too many time by “final” names that turned out to not be final. I still have a project named “Ricochet Blue.”

My point is, forget about the name and make the game first. When you are done you can name it.