Skip to Content

Lima Sky responds to trademark battle around the word 'Doodle'

by Mike Schramm Jan 13th 2011 at 5:00PM

This one's complicated but interesting. A few days back, it was revealed by the developer of an app called Doodle Monster that Doodle Jump creators Lima Sky (we've talked to founder Igor Pusenjak before) was trying to enforce trademark rights against any app on the store using the word "Doodle" in its name. That creator originally planned to step down and change the name, but the creator of another app called Doodle Hockey instead spoke out to say that Lima Sky had no business claiming the word "Doodle" itself, that there were pre-existing properties and trademarks on the word, and that "everyone with an app containing the word 'doodle' in the title needs to stand up to Lima Sky's threats."

Now, Pusenjak himself has spoken out on the issue, and he says that he's retracting the original notice from the App Store. But he does hold his position on the word "Doodle," saying that "there was absolutely no rush to call a game 'Doodle Something' until Doodle Jump became famous. Then many developers began jumping on the bandwagon whether their game had any doodled elements in it or not. They were simply trading on the fame of Doodle Jump, for which Lima Sky has a trademark." Pusenjak admits that there is a trademark in the system before Lima Sky's, but says that the company's complaint on the App Store was designed to protect Doodle Jump against anyone else's attack.

At any rate, legal action aside (and it doesn't appear as if there will be any), Pusenjak has agreed to step back from the restrictions, which even he agrees went too far, and says that he's simply trying to avoid customer confusion -- any developers creating games that might be confused with pre-existing IPs should simply have to change them, not remove games entirely. That seems to make sense, so hopefully that agreement will stand without further clashes.

View Tags

Related Stories

Categories

App Store

This one's complicated but interesting. A few days back, it was revealed by the developer of an app called Doodle Monster that Doodle Jump...
 

Add a Comment

Sign in »
*0 / 3000 Character Maximum Comment Moderation Enabled. Your comment will appear after it is cleared by an editor.

12 Comments

Filter by:
Cee

Dear Doodle Devs, there is hope!

To my knowledge (and I have worked with US patent lawyers for 5 years), Pusenjak has no chance to approach anyone legally (of course he could still sue).

They have trademarked "Doodle Jump" not "Doodle". This does not prevent anyone else from trademarking/using other "Doodle names". Anyone still could trademark "Doodle XYZ".

It would be different if somebody had already trademarked "Doodle" alone. Then nobody else could trademark/use anything with "Doodle", no matter in what combination. So, if you have a "Doodle" app, stand up for your right.

That guy is simply trying to make more money. I'm not defending the rip-off's here. They should be banished. But simply approaching everything that is called "Doodle XYZ" is simply plain .....

By the way, if something else with the word "Doodle" was tm'ed in this category prior to Doodle Jump, it usually counts as "prior art" - and this renders this guys arguments completely useless.

I'm not a lawyers, this is just my amateur knowledge - But I'm quite sure that Pusenjak has nothing in his hands (contrary to the guy who owned "Edge", he was no troll but totally legit - he owned the tm). Stand up for your rights - Behavior like this is so ...... Why do these guys start to toll when they start to see money?

The statement of a real patent lawyer would be good (as mentioned, I'm not an expert).

Best, Cee

January 14 2011 at 12:04 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Cee's comment
Cee

Just a word to the people who said that Pusenjaks behavior is correct: Think a moment what would happen if this would be a legit behavior: Make an app that is called "Red Jump", TM is and then try to approach everybody that made an app called "Red XYZ"... That would be fun.

Anybody with a TM should have the right to defend it. But they should defend their TM and not something that is "similar". That area is way too grey.

BTW. No, I'm not the dev of any Doodle app. I just hate these TM wars. I used to work for a big corp and I had to fight 4 or 5 of them (not me, the lawyers - but it was my products). We won all of them - but what a waste of money.

January 14 2011 at 12:15 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Johnny Thrash

The ability to own a word is absurd.

January 14 2011 at 10:26 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Johnny Thrash's comment
Thomas Platt

Absurd? Suppose I sell you some carbonated urine, labeled "Budweiser." You may reconsider your view on trademark protection.

January 14 2011 at 12:41 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Johnny Thrash

Yea, probably not gonna happen, but thanks for your input.

January 14 2011 at 12:47 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
mcdj

Hope no one tries to bite on my new game, Poodle Hump.

January 14 2011 at 12:42 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
tdowling

For those who don't know much about the guy (like me, for instance), what makes him such an altruist?

January 13 2011 at 8:15 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
benfinley

I think he has every right to protect his trademark! Imagine a fast-food restaurant that mooches off of McDonald's fame by putting a "Mc" in front of every menu item. Or what about an "Apple phone" made by LG, HTC etc... Just because it's a common word doesn't mean trademark laws don't apply.

January 13 2011 at 7:38 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to benfinley's comment
Tubamajuba

Exactly. It would be like Motorola calling their phone an iDroid. In all honesty, I usually have a certain level of disdain for people that do this kind of thing, but I completely agree with Pusenjak- there were almost NO apps before his with the word "doodle" in their title, and the influx of "doodle apps" started only after Doodle Jump was released. Many of these apps even try to rip off the icon (the light gray grid). He has every right to try and protect his trademark. Lima Sky isn't some huge conglomerate, it's a very small company that rightfully earned its success.

January 13 2011 at 9:23 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Tony

Didn't doodle buddy come out before doodle jump?

January 13 2011 at 7:17 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Rdnymllnsktr

He's still a little bitch, and the only reason why he's stepping down is because people were boycotting and banning his app from their phones.

January 13 2011 at 5:23 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
jam

doodle doo ?

January 13 2011 at 5:12 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Buy an ad here

Tweets

© 2012 AOL Inc. All Rights Reserved.