Doodle Jump devs Lima Sky go batshit crazy, turn into Tim Langdell over doodle games
This sounds familiar:
We are required by USPTO [US Patent and Trademark Office] to monitor and police our trade marks. If we don’t, we lose them.
But, no, Tim Langdell’s not risen from the grave (he’s not dead—it’s just where EA left him after giving him a serious kicking); this time, it’s Doodle Jump creators Lima Sky who are reportedly being total dicks.
According to Pocket Gamer, the Doodle Jump devs have now decided to rampage round the App Store, yelling at devs who have the audacity to use the word ‘doodle’ in the titles of their games. (At the current count, there are over 700 such games, so the Lima Sky guys are going to get really sore throats.)
Gosh, I guess, then, that Lima Sky must own the trademark for ‘doodle’, right? Well, no, they only own ‘Doodle Jump’, and they weren’t the first doodle game on the App Store anyway. So not only are they acting like total dicks, using the same bullshit language as Tim Langdell to ‘police’ their mark, they also don’t have a fucking clue about marks, the policing of marks, or, seemingly, common sense.
The danger here is that Apple might take down loads of ‘doodle’ games, until the relevant parties come to some arrangement or other. Personally, I suggest coming to a different arrangement: stop buying and playing Lima Sky games until they stop being dicks. Their only big earner is Doodle Jump anyway, and there are plenty of alternatives, such as the free Froggy Jump and the similarly free Mega Jump.
Unforgiveable. I’ve deleted Doodle Jump, and I’ll never buy one of their titles again.
I believe Apple previously did some head-banging when Facebook complained about apps using the word “face” in them, so it’s possible that they may succeed in getting some items modified or removed for good. See http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2373258,00.asp.
Two things here – developers use similar-sounding names to entice people in, promising similar gameplay with a similar sounding name. This could make it a lot harder to market iOS games. And is it time for another wave of “protest” titles, such as Scribble Leap, Sever the Cord, Tinabolt and so on to draw attention to how petty this case is?
[…] 13, 2011. News, iOS gaming Pocket Gamer dot BZZZZ reports that Lima Sky’s cancelled its threats to smack all other iOS doodle games with a legal shovel […]
What tits. Disappointing since Doodle Jump is one of my regular games I play when in a period of boredom or waiting.