11 minutes ago, frob said:

You can't trademark it before you use it. That's one of the many mistakes people frequently make with trademark registration.

You can file for the intent to use the mark, but not the actual mark.  In order to register you need to actually use the mark in trade, the mark needs to be associated with both your products and your business, and the mark needs to have secondary meaning.  The registration needs to include a specimen from a live product as product users see it, not images from marketing or a web site or other uses.

If your product is big then yes, you should register your trademarks.  Enforcing those marks will cost a few hundred thousand dollars, so if you aren't big enough to invest that much money the registration is meaningless.

Does this means that if I start selling my game at the end of 2019, and someone else has "filed for the intent to use the mark" before that date, I'll win if we go on court?

Because if it is this way, then there's no problem as this seems pretty fair, and there's no reason for me to declare the intention of using the name.

But then I wander, what happens to them? they're request is refused as there's an estabilished brand with the same name already?

Just browsing the topic (and not a lawyer), but I would think a big company would not be interested in trade-marking a common word, as it's more complicated  to enforce. With the same effort, they could pick a unique word that makes the trademark a lot stronger for them.

21 hours ago, Alberth said:

Just browsing the topic (and not a lawyer), but I would think a big company would not be interested in trade-marking a common word, as it's more complicated  to enforce. With the same effort, they could pick a unique word that makes the trademark a lot stronger for them.

That is true, now that I think about it, and it's actually good for me in this situation.

I think I will just keep things as they are, try to stick with my name without spending money to reserve the word (8% of the total budget is a lot in my opinion), but of course keeping some backup names in the case something goes wrong.

the so here is a lot of miss information on this topic regarding trademarks and I would like to clear up a lot of it.

Let's start why you should trademark your game. A trademark identified a single source of goods or services, in other words, your trademark is your brand. To get a registered trademark you must meet two general requirements. 1. The mark must be distinctive. 2. Your mark must be used in interstate commerce.

Now I can spend hours talking about the distinctiveness of a mark, as generally speaking this is one of the most difficult parts of any trademark registration. Distinctiveness is the ability of your brand to identify you as the single source of goods or services. Interstate Commerce, is much easier to achieve, as long as you've made one sale of your goods or services using your mark to someone outside of the current state your in your achieved interstate commerce.

Now it was mentioned that your brand must be well known before filing a trademark, and this is simply not true. If your mark lacks distinctiveness, then yes you need what's called secondary meaning to register the mark.

Registering your brand as a federal trademark with the USPTO comes with a multitude of advantages when it comes to enforcing your rights. A registered trademark carries with it evidence that your trademark is valid and you or your company have ownership of that mark. Additional registration advantages include the nationwide use of the mark, statutory removers for infringement claims such as treble damages and recovery of attorney’s fees and costs, the right to use ®, and after 5 years your mark can become incontestable. For brand owners of goods, after registration, you may file your mark(s) with US Customs to stop the importation of infringing/counterfeit goods.

If any questions about trademarks or other forms of IP send me a message would love to talk more about it.