Someone filed a trademark on your game's name. What you can do about it.

You search your game's name on the trademark register and someone else's name is next to it. Maybe it is a stranger who filed a month after your trailer went up. Maybe it is a company that wants money. Maybe a store has already forwarded you their complaint.

We know what it is to watch someone else claim your work: a game we shipped was taken apart, rebuilt and sold by someone else. A filing on your name is a different problem, but it brings the same mix of anger and helplessness, and the same temptation to do something fast. This page covers how to read what was filed, why selling the game first matters, the four U.S. routes and their deadlines, what to do when a store gets a complaint about your game, and what to do when the other side really was first. It is about the United States, where the process is public and well documented. It is not legal advice, and the places where a lawyer is worth paying are marked.

1. Read what was actually filed

Search the name on the USPTO trademark search and open the record in TSDR, the status and document system. Every filing there is public. Write down these six things, because each one changes what you can do.

• Application or registration. An application can still be stopped before it registers. A registration has to be cancelled.
• The filing date. Compare it with the first date you sold the game under the name in the United States.
• The filing basis. Section 1(a) means the applicant claims it already uses the name. Section 1(b) means it intends to. Section 66(a) means it came in through the international Madrid system. The basis decides which nonuse route is open later.
• The goods and services. A game is usually in class 9 for downloadable software and class 41 for online entertainment. A filing for the same word on clothing or coffee may not conflict with your game at all.
• The status. New, under examination, published for opposition, registered, or dead. A dead filing needs nothing from you.
• The specimen. For a use-based filing, the applicant must show the name in use. Look at what they submitted. A product that does not exist, or a picture taken from someone else's page, is worth noting.

Then decide who you are dealing with. In our reading of these situations, filings on game names come from three kinds of people: someone who files names they see gaining attention and hopes to be paid, a company with a real earlier name that it believes yours is close to, and occasionally someone you worked with, such as a former partner or publisher. The routes below are the same for all three. What changes is whether talking first makes sense.

2. Why selling first matters

In the United States, trademark rights begin with use, not with filing. The previous page on trademarking a game name explains that in detail. For this problem, two lines of the statute matter most.

First, the USPTO must refuse a mark that is likely to be confused with a mark "previously used in the United States by another and not abandoned". That is your ground for opposing or cancelling a later filing on your name, if you sold the game first.

Second, the nationwide priority a registration gives its owner does not reach back past someone who used the mark before the filing date. A later registration does not erase your earlier use.

So the evidence you want is evidence of use, with dates. Collect it now, before anything changes:

• The date your store page went live and the date of your first sale to someone in the United States. Store sales reports show this.
• Captures of the store page, the title screen and the box or capsule art showing the name, with dates.
• Press coverage, reviews, festival listings and videos that name the game, with dates.
• Sales and wishlist counts over time, which show the name was known before their filing.
• Your domain registration, social accounts and announcement posts under the name.

An announcement alone is weaker than a sale. Whether a trailer, a demo or a crowdfunding page counts as use for your goods is a question for a lawyer, and it is one of the places where paying one early saves money.

3. The four U.S. routes, by status

All four are filed with the USPTO. The fees are from the USPTO fee schedule as read on 19 October 2026, for electronic filing.

4. Before publication: the letter of protest

A letter of protest gives the examining attorney evidence about someone else's pending application. It is cheap and quiet, but narrow. The USPTO says it only considers letters that give "a specific, relevant legal ground" for refusal, with evidence. The page lists the grounds it accepts and the ones it does not, and one of the ones it does not accept is the one most developers have: a claim of common law prior use of the mark.

So a letter of protest helps you when one of these is true:

• You already have a U.S. registration or an earlier pending application for the name. Likelihood of confusion with a registered mark or prior pending application is an accepted ground.
• Their specimen is not real. The USPTO accepts evidence that a specimen was digitally created or altered, was not in use when submitted, or uses an image others use without the mark.
• The name is merely descriptive or generic for games, which is rare for an invented title.

The rules are strict. The page asks for no more than 10 items of evidence for each reason and 75 pages in total, an itemized index that does not name you, and web captures that show the address and the date. Evidence from a letter that is considered becomes part of the public record. A letter of protest does not stop the clock: the USPTO says filing one does not preserve your right to oppose. If your only argument is that you were first, the opposition is your route.

5. After publication: opposing the application

When an application passes examination it is published in the Trademark Official Gazette. Anyone who believes they would be damaged by the registration then has thirty days to file an opposition. This is the stage at which the Prey for the Gods application was opposed.

Thirty days is short, so most people first ask for more time. The extension rules work like this:

• A first 30-day extension is granted on request and costs nothing.
• Alternatively, a first 90-day extension is granted for good cause and costs $200.
• After a 30-day extension, a further 60 days can be granted for good cause, for $200.
• One final 60-day extension, for $400, needs the applicant's consent or extraordinary circumstances.
• Nothing goes past 180 days from publication, and every request must be filed before the current period runs out.

Requests and oppositions are filed through ESTTA, the Board's filing system. A notice of opposition costs $600 per class opposed. Your ground, if you sold first, is priority and likelihood of confusion: you used the name first for games, and theirs would confuse buyers.

An opposition is a legal case, run like a short lawsuit on paper. The USPTO puts Board cases at four months to up to three years, with $200 of the fee refunded if the other side defaults. If the other side does not answer, a default can end it quickly. If they do defend, the case involves evidence exchange and deadlines that most developers should not run alone. This is the clearest point to bring in a trademark lawyer, and the extension period is the time to find one.

6. After registration: cancelling it

If you find the registration late, the window has not closed. A petition to cancel can be filed by anyone who believes they are or will be damaged by the registration. The statute gives five years from registration for any ground, including that you used the name first. After five years, priority is gone as a ground, but a petition can still be filed at any time if the mark has been abandoned, has become generic, or was obtained fraudulently, among other grounds.

The fee is $600 per class, through the same Board and the same ESTTA system, and the same timeline applies. Fraud is hard to prove and is not a ground to add because the other side behaved badly. A lawyer can tell you whether your facts support it.

7. When the owner never used the name: expungement and reexamination

A registration that exists only to be sold back to you is often a registration for a game that does not exist. The Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 gave anyone two cheaper ways to challenge that, without joining a case.

The USPTO's comparison sets out why this route suits a developer facing a name filer. The petitioner is not a party to the proceeding. In most cases the real party in interest can remain anonymous. Proceedings take from 4.5 to 12 months, depending on volume. The cost is $400 per class instead of $600. The trade is that you must file evidence of nonuse with the petition, from a reasonable investigation, and the proceeding can only decide nonuse. It cannot consider that you were first.

For a game name, that investigation usually means showing that no game, app or online service under the name can be found on the stores and sites where one would be sold, with dated captures. A registration that came in through the Madrid system can only be challenged by expungement. The USPTO also says it may start these proceedings itself against unused registrations, particularly those obtained by scammers.

A nonuse petition and a Board cancellation can run against the same registration. If you also have earlier use, a lawyer can tell you which to file first.

8. When a store gets a complaint about your game

Sometimes the first you hear of a filing is a store email. The other party has used a registration, or an application, to complain that your game infringes their name. This works differently from a copyright notice, and it helps to know how.

• Apple says that in most cases it will contact the provider of the disputed app and "ask that they work with you directly". Its separate App Name Dispute form exists for someone who says an app is blocking their trademark as an app name.
• Google Play encourages trademark owners to reach out to the developer directly first, and then use its trademark complaint form.
• Steam has a public notice form for copyright. We have not found a public form for trademark complaints, so ask Steam Support how it wants a response handled.

There is no statutory counter-notice for trademarks. The 10 to 14 business day restoration in the page on false copyright takedowns applies only to copyright notices under section 512. If a store has acted on a trademark complaint, your reply is a factual account to the store and, often, a conversation with the other side.

Our advice is to keep the reply short. Give the date you first sold the game under the name, with evidence. Give the other party's filing date and status from TSDR. If you have filed an opposition, cancellation or nonuse petition, give that proceeding's number. Then ask the store what it needs to restore or keep the listing. Leave out what you think of the other party.

The best-known case shows how long this can take and how it can end. Mobigame's puzzle game Edge was taken down from the App Store repeatedly over a claim to the word "Edge." After a petition by DICE and EA, the publishers of Mirror's Edge, the USPTO issued notice in April 2013 that the registration was cancelled, in a process that had run since 2010. Pocket Gamer reported that the court had asked for the claimant's marks to be cancelled back in October 2010. The claim had cost an independent game its store listing more than once, and the registration behind it was cancelled at the USPTO.

9. When the other side really was first

Do the date comparison honestly. If a company sold games under the same or a very close name before you, especially in the same classes, your earlier use may not help, and a fight costs more than a new name.

The trademark page covers the case of Prey for the Gods, which became Praey for the Gods after ZeniMax opposed the studio's application. The studio said it decided against spending its backers' money on a legal dispute. Many small studios make the same choice, and it is a reasonable one. It is a decision about money and time, and not a judgment on whose game it is.

If you are weighing it, here is what a lawyer will want to know: the other side's goods and first use dates, whether they sell games, whether buyers would confuse the two, how much your name is worth in sales and recognition, and what a change would cost across the store, the art, the trailer and the press. A negotiated agreement on how both names are used, with a changed subtitle or logo, is sometimes possible and is worth asking about.

10. If someone asks you to pay

A message that says they own your game's name and will let you keep it for a fee is not a reason to pay that day. A registration, or an application, is not proof that they used the name before you. Look up their filing, compare dates, and read the routes above before you answer. If you answer, keep it in writing and short. Do not make threats you are not ready to carry out, and do not admit you copied a name you did not copy.

Whether to negotiate, oppose or ignore is a judgment that depends on your dates and on how much the name is worth to you. A lawyer can often answer it in one consultation. This section is our advice, not a description of any official process.

11. Outside the United States

Everything above is U.S. procedure. Other countries have their own registers, deadlines and grounds, and in some, filing first counts for more than selling first. If a filing abroad blocks a store, a publisher or a release there, it needs a lawyer in that country. The page on a game copied in another country covers how protection works across borders and how to find help locally.

12. Making the next one harder

This section is our advice.

• File your own application early. An intent-to-use application fixes your priority date before release. It also lets you use the letter of protest against later filings, because you then have a prior pending application. The trademark page covers when to file and what it costs.
• Keep a dated record of first use. One folder with the store launch date, the first U.S. sale, the first press and dated captures will save you a week when you need it.
• Watch the register. Search your name every few months, and search it again when a trailer or launch brings attention. The Official Gazette is published each Tuesday, and an application's opposition window opens on the day it appears there.
• Write down who owns the name. If you work with a partner or publisher, a signed agreement that says who owns the title and who may register it prevents the hardest version of this problem.

Common questions

Someone trademarked my game's name. Do I have to rename my game?

Not automatically. If you sold the game under the name in the United States before their filing date, you may have grounds to oppose or cancel their filing. A registration does not reach back past an earlier user. Compare dates first.

Can I file a letter of protest because I used the name first?

Not on that ground alone. The USPTO says it typically does not consider claims of common law prior use in a letter of protest. Earlier use belongs in an opposition or cancellation.

How long do I have to oppose a trademark application?

Thirty days from publication in the Official Gazette, extendable up to 180 days from publication if you ask before each period ends. The first 30-day extension is free.

How much does it cost to oppose or cancel a trademark?

The USPTO fee is $600 per class for an opposition or a cancellation, filed electronically. Lawyer fees are separate and usually larger.

The registration owner has never made a game. What can I do?

A petition for expungement or reexamination challenges registrations that were not used. It costs $400 per class, the petitioner is not a party, and the USPTO puts the timeline at 4.5 to 12 months.

A store removed my game over a trademark complaint. Can I file a counter-notice?

The copyright counter-notice in section 512 does not apply to trademark complaints. Reply to the store with your first-use evidence, the other party's filing status, and any proceeding you have filed.

Do I need a lawyer?

Not to look up a filing, collect evidence or request a first extension of time to oppose. For an opposition or cancellation that the other side defends, a trademark lawyer is strongly worth it.

This page describes the USPTO fee schedule, its letter of protest practice tip and its page on requesting expungement or reexamination (last updated 18 September 2025), as read on 19 October 2026; 37 C.F.R. § 2.102 through the eCFR; and sections 1052, 1063 and 1064 of title 15, read the same day. Apple's App Store dispute page and Google Play's Intellectual Property policy were read the same day. The Edge account comes from Engadget's report of 19 April 2013 and Pocket Gamer's report of the court document. The Prey for the Gods account repeats the trademark page and its source. The three kinds of filer, the reply to a store, sections 10 and 12 and the remarks on what counts as use are our own and are marked as such. It is general information, not legal advice about your situation.