Current Events > Help CE, I need legal advice regarding an indie game I'm developing.

(+) Yeah! (+)

So I started working on an indie game about 6 months ago and am making pretty good progress on it. At the beginning of it all, me and the friends working on it made sure we came up with a name that was original, not used by anything else, and we settled on "Dragalia: Lost Legends" as a working title. I ran a TESS search to double check there were no trademarks filed with it and came up with nothing so I figured I was good to go.
Fast forward to present day, I double checked on the name because I'm an anxious fuck, and lo and behold I find out that some random Japanese mobile dev filed a trademark for "Dragalia Lost" in computer/mobile games just this past November.
So I realize like, they didn't do anything wrong (presumably, I assume it's just the greatest coincidence of my life), they just beat me to the punch, and they own that name. I assume my little babby indie team is fucked regarding using that name for our project.

My question though is, proceeding forward from here, when we come up with a new name to replace the old one, how do I prevent that from happening? Should I try and file my own trademark with intent to use? How long do trademarks like that last? (Cuz I'd have to hang onto it for the length of development which is gonna last at least a year or two)
Or is all this consequential and I could go on using the word Dragalia, but change the subtitle to something else?
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tl;dr

I've been working on an indie game for almost a year now, the name of the game/world I'm using was offically trademarked by a mobile dev in Japan. Wat do.
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M_Live posted...

Change the name. You should have filed for it yourself

This is an incredibly reductive answer so I'm assuming you don't actually have any expertise on the subject. Regardless, does every indie game maker out there register trademark for their name before the game releases? Cuz copyrighting stuff is expensive.

Wasn't there that case where that game studio got in trouble for their game being called Prey For The Gods because Bethesda said it was too close to Prey, and the studio just added the letter A and made it Praey For The Gods?
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If there's a trademark for "Dragalia Lost", would it different enough to change the game's name to something like "Tales of Draegalia"? (Not a serious consideration, that's just for the sake of example)
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ForestLogic posted...

If there's a trademark for "Dragalia Lost", would it different enough to change the game's name to something like "Tales of Draegalia"? (Not a serious consideration, that's just for the sake of example)

Probably not.
You should have just trademarked it when you had the chance.
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realistically, how successful do you see your game being? how important is that specific name to everything?

if you think you actually have an audience, then you should probably change it. nobody gives a crap about tiny projects in the sea of tiny projects, but if you're actually putting a hefty amount into marketing and advertising (for an indie studio), then you'll definitely want to reconsider a name change.

if you can change the name to something else, you might as well do that. it's hard to let go of project names, but keep in mind, unless you have a marketing/advertising/product manager on your indie team, your research into how much the name is gonna sell is probably 0 to none.

realistically, i said, not 'we hope' or 'it could happen'. i mean in the current scope and outlook, what's it look like? spending forever on something and taking a huge risk to lose it all is probably not what you want to do, unless you've made a crapload of sacrifices (and spent money) to bank on something like a name.
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I mean you could just pull another random name out of your ass. What makes "Dragalia" so special? It's another generic dragon-sounding fantasy name. I could only see your conundrum if the trademark in question were a series of words important to the context of the game, but this is literally just a made up proper noun causing the hangup.
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What about Draegelis?
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weapon_d00d816 posted...

I mean you could just pull another random name out of your ass. What makes "Dragalia" so special? It's another generic dragon-sounding fantasy name. I could only see your conundrum if the trademark in question were a series of words important to the context of the game, but this is literally just a made up proper noun causing the hangup.

I mean the name started of in a hobby game I made years ago with Game Maker, but it was much longer and shittier. My team and I came up with Dragalia last year since it was (at the time) still unused and had a nice sound of it, playing off the word "regalia". In context, a few of the areas are named with shorter versions of the name, but they could in theory be changed too. TBQH it just has sentimental attachment for me but I realize that's not enough.

Sajo posted...

What about Draegelis?

That's not a bad idea. I could look into it. Thanks!
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Also I would suggest scrapping the name entirely because it sounds very forgettably generic -- a land that sounds like "dragon" and has "legend" in the subtitle.

I would avoid a subtitle since it's not a second entry or an expansion. For new games it's best to pick something simpler that flows better...like Dragalia Lost, lol.
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Guerrilla Soldier posted...

realistically, how successful do you see your game being? how important is that specific name to everything?

if you think you actually have an audience, then you should probably change it. nobody gives a crap about tiny projects in the sea of tiny projects, but if you're actually putting a hefty amount into marketing and advertising (for an indie studio), then you'll definitely want to reconsider a name change.

if you can change the name to something else, you might as well do that. it's hard to let go of project names, but keep in mind, unless you have a marketing/advertising/product manager on your indie team, your research into how much the name is gonna sell is probably 0 to none.

realistically, i said, not 'we hope' or 'it could happen'. i mean in the current scope and outlook, what's it look like? spending forever on something and taking a huge risk to lose it all is probably not what you want to do, unless you've made a crapload of sacrifices (and spent money) to bank on something like a name.

To be realistic? I don't expect it to become really big. I plan on publicizing it as much as me and my team can, but we have limited funding so I don't expect it to be a huge deal.

That said, I want to avoid changing it to something completely different because I do just really like the way the word sounds.
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more importantly, what sort of game is it?
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weapon_d00d816 posted...

Also I would suggest scrapping the name entirely because it sounds very forgettably generic -- a land that sounds like "dragon" and has "legend" in the subtitle.

I would avoid a subtitle since it's not a second entry or an expansion. For new games it's best to pick something simpler that flows better...like Dragalia Lost, lol.

Well Lost Legends as subtitle was a working name anyway. We had plans to change it to something else anyway probably, but the title/world needs something new now anyway.
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It depends on the trademark owner.
King, who made the Candy Crush series, hunts down most games that contain the word candy.
Bethesda hunted Mojang for a game named Scrolls, because of The Elder Scrolls.
Nintendo is known to hunt down fangames.
Hasbro went after a My Little Pony fighting game.
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Bullet_Wing posted...

I don't have any legal advice unfortunately, just curious about the game.

What genre? Sounds like an RPG

prettyprincess posted...

more importantly, what sort of game is it?

Honestly I don't want to go into details about the game because if I do, discussion could pretty easily turn into a thread about why people think the game sounds shitty and I don't particularly need that blow to my self-esteem ATM.

That said, yes, it's a standard RPG/adventure.
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ForestLogic posted...

discussion could pretty easily turn into a thread about why people think the game sounds shitty and I don't particularly need that blow to my self-esteem ATM

fuck em

I was just curious if it was going to be a platformer because I like those a lot
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How about Dragioli: Pasta Legends
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@winternova is a lawyer, no idea if he knows about trademarks.

It also depends on how you do it.
Copyrighting is more expensive, but then it is yours for a long time.
Trademarking is cheaper, but you will lose it if you dont use it often enough or let others use it.
Or something like that.
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weapon_d00d816 posted...

How about Dragioli: Pasta Legends

Now you're making me hungry D:

prettyprincess posted...

ForestLogic posted...

discussion could pretty easily turn into a thread about why people think the game sounds shitty and I don't particularly need that blow to my self-esteem ATM

fuck em

I was just curious if it was going to be a platformer because I like those a lot

Well at its heart it's an RPG, but there are numerous sections of the story where it switches to light sidescroller gameplay for extended periods.
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Bullet_Wing posted...

ForestLogic posted...

Honestly I don't want to go into details about the game because if I do, discussion could pretty easily turn into a thread about why people think the game sounds shitty and I don't particularly need that blow to my self-esteem ATM.

How about a writeup on Sanctuary? You'll get compliments and constructive criticism rather than outright flames.

Hmm... Is that a board or another site?
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