DISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer; this is not legal advice. Seek a lawyer if you have specific questions.
The simplest way to do the legal stuff is hire a lawyer. But this can be expensive. The following information is an overview of what I have learned from working with a lawyer who specializes in the US games industry. It may not apply outside of the United States.
You should set up a LLC to protect yourself. While trademark infringement and other issues can still be tied back to you even if you have a LLC set up, having a LLC will provide certain layers of protection in case you make a mistake. Having a company also makes you seem more official.
Set up a LLC through your state department. If you’re close to the capital, go in and ask for forms. If not, your state government website should have forms you can print and mail.
File a federal trademark for your company name and game name. Make sure to get the category correct. If the trademark is already taken in the games industry, consider changing your company or game name. This can be as simple as adding onto it. The Steam game Battlevoid had to change their name to Battlevoid: Harbinger for this reason. I believe Elite: Dangerous devs added the “Dangerous” to the title avoid a name conflict.
Note that a trademark takes time. You have to have “proof of usage”. If you file a trademark and one year later have no screenshots or anything to prove you are using the trademark, someone else can file and try to take it from you. Note that this also applies if you are trying to take a trademark.
My LLC is called Impulse, and Impulse was trademarked by Gamestop. However, we were able to negotiate the trademark from them because they haven’t used it in the past 8 years.
You shouldn’t consider filing a game trademark at the local level unless it is specifically tied to a location, like if your game uses augmented reality and requires a specific environment setup that only exists in your local shop.
General advice is to trademark your studio, game name, and any important characters part of a major branding effort. Most indies shouldn’t be trying to brand important characters because because there’s no guarantee you will be so successful you can create a game series off of it. Note that all media is already covered by US copyright, so in most cases this is enough protection for your game characters and assets.
Things that cannot be trademarked or copyrighted:
- Game ideas, including mechanics (otherwise there’d only be one FPS game series)
- General game settings, like using the zombie apocalypse for your game setting. Note that the specific assets in your game setting, like the environment you create for your zombie apocalypse setting, IS covered by copyright.
After filing a trademark, you can use the TM symbol on your logo and associated branding for that trademark. Only when the trademark has gone through (you have submitted “proof of usage”) can you use the R symbol. When commissioning a logo for your studio or games, be sure to get versions of the logo with the TM and R symbols.
Feel free to ask me any questions. If you ask something very specific, I may advise you to get a lawyer because I am not authorized to offer legal advice. Otherwise, I will do my best to answer or refer you to a resource where you can find it.
