Similar app name in appstore

Question

Created Mar ’23

Replies 2

Boosts 0

Participants 3

Hey, I've been working on an app for the last couple of months. Unfortunately, during our development, another app with the same name got released, I didn't expect it since it's a very unusual name that i made up, nothing general at all. For the purpose of this post, let's call my app "Car" just to easily explain my questions. The app that was released would then be called "Car - easy driving", would I still be able to claim and release the app "Car" or for example "Car - electrical circuits"? Essentially what I mean by this is that the field of both apps is same, I use car as an example in this post, but what we specialize in that field in is vastly different(easy driving x electrical circuits), would there then be a problem with (part of) the name being same?

Boost

Answer 1

matheymatei OP

Mar ’23

would there then be a problem with (part of) the name being same?

No, if the "Car" keyword is a broad keyword and wouldn't cause confusion in branding. The examples you specified are valid and there are tons of apps with such structure in the App Store. However there are exceptions ..and this is where the name is already established brand name.

Examples of most likely allowed:

Car - easy driving
Football - Retro experience

Examples of most likely not allowed.

Spotify - ... (anything after here)
Subway Surfers - ....
FIFA - ....

Just note that in real life you wouldn't ever choose a completely general title like "Football" or "Car", you would do instead "Retro Football" (i don't know if Retro Football is a real app, the name was just made by me, so in case it exists it's already invalid).

1

Answer 2

endecotp OP

Mar ’23

You have a number of things to worry about:

Will there be competition for things like website domain names, social media handles, etc.?
Are you violating any trademarks?
Will these other people try to attack you legally? (Even if they have no basis in law, that doesn't stop them from threatening you; that can get expensive if you have to get your own lawyers, and can cause sleepless nights.)
Will Apple notice and complain?
What will happen when people search (Google / App Store) for this app name?

Your example is a bit difficult to follow, because you say your name is "unusual ... just made up", but then you give the example "Car", which is not a made-up word at all. Contrast: Apple is not a made-up or unusual word; Tgweoxy is a made-up word.

0