The trademarks are under the category of Computer Games right? So the toy would not count. However having Lima Sky provide Apple with documents is just one of your three options. The other two are providing a written assurance that your application does not infringe on their trademark or other evidence acceptable to Apple. The question is what is acceptable to Apple. Seems like guilty until proven innocent but I think Apple is required to notify you regardless of their position on the issue. This is not legal advice since I am not a lawyer. Ah beat me too it!
Of course I am no lawyer but, to me you really summed it up with that picture you posted on the first page.
Weren't there rules in place to avoid this sort of stuff? To prevent everyone from running around saying "Hey, pull this, it infringes on my copyright"? The burden of proof shouldn't be on 'you', it should be on the person complaining providing solid reasoning.
I'm familiar with trademark law. I've gone through this before as an iOS developer and sought council from two law firms, one of them being the company that had once defended Rockstar games. In the end...my case didn't reach a point beyond simply speaking with lawyers on the phone for free...I was directed to have a conversation with the other developer and to explain to him that he could continue but there was no way he would win. Why? Because you can't trademark a term that is commonly used as a descriptor for something. In the case of "doodle" the word is commonly use ie. "I doodled while I was on the phone" it's a descriptor for a style of drawing. It's part of the vernacular. All their Trademarks do is prevent you from making a game explicitly named "Doodle Jump" or from drawing a character that looks simular to their character in appearance...not drawing style. These false claims of infringement can probably be battled for a few thousand dollars. Something most iOS developers should have handy. Also...if he truely believes that he has a case...he has to defend his trademark vigorously. Meaning...he can't go after one developer without going after them all. The funny thing is...their character is a rip off of the Q-Bert character. Do a search for Doodle Jump and Q-Bert...reviews have even called their character a "Q-Bert like" character. The things money does to you.
LimaSky doesn't own the trademark Doodle, @Acceleroto explained it very well. All files of their trademark application can be found here: http://tmportal.uspto.gov/external/portal/tow?SRCH=Y&isSubmitted=true&details=&SELECT=US+Serial+No&TEXT=85079944# There is no legal ground, and, tell me if I am wrong, but Doodle Jump is a clone of Papi Jump isn't it? Igor, your game is really cool and you don't have to do this, you have the trademark Doodle Jump already, it should be enough. We all understand that you want to protect what you created, and all developers should do the same, but you are crossing the line. Maybe you should cancel this procedure before it's too late...
I don't think he is going to stop if they told Apple they can no longer use "Doodle". Apple has already removed some of the apps they wanted gone but most of those were ones that obviously violated their IP in many ways. To request that an app be removed just because it uses the term Doodle in the title is a big stretch.
Wow! Just wow! Doodle Jump defined the standard for casual gaming its stellar success is the kind of story everyone likes to hear. I for one love the game and has gone as far as to name-drop it on my own company site. (I'll probably remove it during the next update, as this is ridiculous). If nothing else Lima Sky should understand how they're quickly transforming their public image from "successful independent developer everyone's happy for" to "company trying to destroy for indies based purely on greed". Perhaps the Government of Peru should sue Lima Sky for using the sky above their capital as a company name? Off to trademark "Zombie"...
trademark status a non-final action has been mailed. This is a letter from the examining attorney requesting additional information and/or making an initial refusal. However, no final determination as to the registrability of the mark has been made. Edit: I guess Mobigame already found this and posted the link.
with the whole last year the doodle thing became a sub-genre in iphone gaming... HAHA Limasky is ricidilous... they suck! Lima, listen: Doodle Doodle doodle Dooodle dooodle dooodle doodle this doodle that, bla bla bla... poor show.
First this - this only affects the US store!!! Second: No US trademark -> no further action needed Maybe just write to Apple and Igor: NO copyrights or trademarks were violated in the development of XYZ If you hold a patent or trademark (please provide a proof in witch countries they are valid) which might affect XYZ please let me know.
That's not entirely true, the common law can be applied in some other countries (the first one to use a mark owns it). By the way if you have .com with your mark it can help. Agreed
In Germany a US trademark does not automatically extend to Germany , and vice versa- except your trademark is "well known" whatever this might be. Anyway. Now back to work - there are some trademarks to break
Just to let you all know, I've just copyrighted the word 'and'. So this thread alone, you guys all owe me £12.5m But seriously, won't Apple be losing out millions of $ by this? There's tons of 'doodle' games beyond belief - and they get 30% of each one sold... dumb
We all need to stand up to trademark bullies and trolls like this. Let's hope this doesn't go on needlessly like that whole "Edge" debacle.
The word "Doodle" is on my two English dictionaries. One dates back to 1994. If they want to remove all apps with Doodle on the name, why they don't ask the same for "Jump" ? Now back to work, I'm going to tell Apple to remove all apps with "Email", "Text", "Group" and "Contacts" in their title... P.S. To all developers that received the Apple's email: A couple months ago I asked Apple to tell developers of some apps that appeared when searching iTunes for "ABContacts" (the exact name of one of my app, a violation of the dev terms) to remove that keyword from their app metadata. It took more than a month, so I don't think they'll do anything in 5 days.
I charged my money back on Doodle Jump in Protest against Lima Sky. Do the same! If you take their money, they will learn not to have stupid ideas. You can fight them!
Just so people know it doesn't seem to matter which country the copyright is in. Apple said they will remove t from ALL stores.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trademark I didn't find anything in english, but in Hungarian Trademark Law it is clearly stated, that trademark doesn't apply to common words, which describe the style, the art, the quality, the quantity and similar attributes of the product, which are only selling points. "Doodle" is clearly just a describing word for the style, so it can't be trademarked. Period. It also seems, that they don't even have a registered trademark on the word. They are just trying to register it and they have to express themselves, why they think, they are eligible for that. They try to do it with naming their character "doodle", which is a weak try.
Doodle Jump wasnt even the first app in the App Store with Doodle in the title. There were multiple apps in the iTunes App Store with the word Doodle in their title before Doodle Jump. Some of those include Doodle Kids, uDoodle, Pocket Doodle, and Doodle Chat. Read more: http://www.148apps.com/news/lima-sky-claiming-copyright-term-doodle/#ixzz1AjzeBUu0 Lima Sky sues the apps contain the word 'Doodle' in the title. Then how about the apps like Doodle Kids, uDoodle, Pocket Doodle, and Doodle Chat? They should also sue Lima Sky for using their word 'Doodle'.
