Help, lawyers are after me and my game!

[J_C]

So, some of you might know that my very first adventure game is called "A Long Road Home". I never had a problem with this name, so imagine my surprise when I got a letter in my inbox from National Geographic's legal department, with a Cease and Desist order.

It turns out, they had a documentary called "The Long Road Home", and because the two names are almost identical, they asked me to take it down from any digital storefronts. I'm infringing their property, as they wrote. Now what the fuck do I do know?

 

[Heroic Liberator]

Sadly, the best option for you is to rename the game. Not fair, but it is what it is.

 

[steel legion]

if you have the money, you can fight it. If yopu don't, just rename it

 

[ValeVelKal]

Another solution is to propose them a lump sum of money, even if symbolic for them, so their right is "protected" (since by giving them the money you acknowledged you are using the name on their authorization) and you can carry on.

 

[Darth Roxor]

rename it to A Long Road Home of Fire

 

[Burning Bridges]

Hard to say.

But it's not unusal that new games change their name for the same reason.

You could name it "National Geographic Sucks" for example

 

[rusty_shackleford]

tell them to eat shit

too generic of a title, completely unrelated works(in both medium and substance)

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Rename it to "The Long Road Home".

 

[4249]

Open up your delicious asshole for them to slurp.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

So, some of you might know that my very first adventure game is called "A Long Road Home". I never had a problem with this name, so imagine my surprise when I got a letter in my inbox from National Geographic's legal department, with a Cease and Desist order.

It turns out, they had a documentary called "The Long Road Home", and because the two names are almost identical, they asked me to take it down from any digital storefronts. I'm infringing their property, as they wrote. Now what the fuck do I do know?

They can't copyright a common phrase. Reply to them with a free steam key.

 

[Falksi]

What a bunch of petty cunts.

Tbf, whilst it's a decent enough title, it's also not a title which particularly grabs me or sells anything to me anyway, like "No Truce With The Furies" did. So, whilst emotionally I'd like you to beat the cunts within an inch of their faggot lives, maybe see it as an opportunity to find something a bit more stand-out anyway?

 

[Sweeper]

This kind of thing would be a non issue if you didn't live in the EU.
Third worlders win again.

 

[a Goat]

I'd suggest starting from contacting a lawyer specialized in it on your own, there's a possibility that the cheapest solution for you will be to just rename it, but it's also possible that it's generic enough where they're just overreaching.

 

[JarlFrank]

So, some of you might know that my very first adventure game is called "A Long Road Home". I never had a problem with this name, so imagine my surprise when I got a letter in my inbox from National Geographic's legal department, with a Cease and Desist order.

It turns out, they had a documentary called "The Long Road Home", and because the two names are almost identical, they asked me to take it down from any digital storefronts. I'm infringing their property, as they wrote. Now what the fuck do I do know?

They can't copyright a common phrase. Reply to them with a free steam key.

Yeah, they can't copyright a common phrase.

BUT.

They have lawyers. Expensive and good lawyers. J_C is just a random schmuck from Hungary. He doesn't have ace lawyers who take a million dollars per case.

I remember there being a similar case about Bethesda suing Mojang over a game named "Scrolls" because Bethesda owns... The Elder Scrolls. Yeah.

Although now that I've googled it and checked an article, that wasn't about the name but about the trademark:
https://www.theverge.com/2012/3/10/2860164/mojang-bethesda-scrolls-trademark-dispute

You haven't registered "A Long Road Home" as a trademark, have you, J_C ?

 

[Tacgnol]

Unless you've got the social media presence to whip up a PR shitstorm for National Geographic, I would just rename the game.

Even if, legally speaking, you are in the right, these things can go on for ages and cost a lot of money.

Fucking annoying though.

I'm surprised it has taken them this long to react tbh. Your game has been out since early 2017 right?

 

[procrastinator]

"Matt Barton's Long Road Home"

 

[Strange Fellow]

Rename it "The Story of God with Morgan Freeman"

 

[supervoid]

Are you sure it's really them and not some kind of lolsuit scam scheme? It's just dumb.
Like rusty said- it's different medium and generic title and you aren't deceiving audience into thinking it's a video game adaptation of their product. For example there's a romance novel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long_Road_Home_(novel)

If it's really them, changing title and complaining publicly that evil corpo is harassing poor indie developer without a good reason might the best decision in this case tbh.

 

[JarlFrank]

https://www.thebalancesmb.com/can-a-book-title-be-copyrighted-3974593

An Example: McGraw Hill published a book titled PT 109: John Kennedy in World War II and they attempted to bar Random House from publishing a book titled John F Kennedy & PT 109. The case was taken to court, which found that the words "PT 109" and "John Kennedy" were descriptive or generic terms and therefore not able to be copyrighted. The Court said, "no one has a right to avail himself of another's favorable reputation in order to sell his own goods."

In another example, in 2004, Jeffrey Deaver wrote a book titled "Garden of Beasts," a novel set in Berlin around the time of the 1936 Olympics.
More recently, in 2011 Erik Larsen wrote a non-fiction book set in Berlin in the same time period. Its title is "In the Garden of Beasts." Since Deaver could not copyright his title, we are left with two books with almost identical titles, to confuse us.

A trademark is more difficult to get than a copyright, but you might be able to trademark a book title. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is the federal agency that processes and approves trademark applications.

Even if you can't copyright a book title, or the other items listed above, you may be able to register the title as a trademark. The trademark office looks at whether your trademark might be confused with an existing trademark. For example, "Chicken Soup for the Soul" is a registered trademark, as is the "Dummies" series of books.

In another example, Fox News trademarked the term "Fair and Balanced" in 1998, but they can't stop someone from using that term in a book title, as Al Franken did in his book: "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right."

 

[Tacgnol]

complaining publicly that evil corpo is harassing poor indie developer without a good reason might the best decision in this case tbh.

That bit only really works if you've got a big online presence. No offence to J_C, but I doubt anyone on the broader internet is really going to care.

You'd probably need a sympathetic youtuber or something to run with it.

 

[a Goat]

Quick google shows me 4 other products called "The Long Way Home"(not even "A"), 2 movies(from 1997 and 1998, I assume one of them caused the C&D), 2 books(2010 and 2013 I think), a title of an episode of some show from 1966, a title of song from 1969(and several songs afterwards) and a restaurant. The phrase is extremely generic, I forgot where's that google service that could track its occurrence throughout the last 200 years or so, that would be helpful, but as I've said, contact a lawyer, the situation is relatively simple so you won't spend god knows how much on that consultation and you will know whether you should just dodge it by renaming or can you safely ignore it because they lack legal basis to successfully sue you. Obviously you don't want to actually go into legal warfare with them, but renaming will potentially hurt your potential sales and recognition so if you can avoid it...

 

[copebot]

So, some of you might know that my very first adventure game is called "A Long Road Home". I never had a problem with this name, so imagine my surprise when I got a letter in my inbox from National Geographic's legal department, with a Cease and Desist order.

It turns out, they had a documentary called "The Long Road Home", and because the two names are almost identical, they asked me to take it down from any digital storefronts. I'm infringing their property, as they wrote. Now what the fuck do I do know?

Post the cease and desist letter in full. Are they asserting their trademark, or are they talking about copyright as well?

 

[Commissar Draco]

Contact the Lawyer first and if he will tell you they have a legal claim just change the title for more points in a way to snip on them, of course I have no idea if Hungarian courts are as free (to take bribes and rule for more powerful side law and fact be damned) like Potato ones are, I think that Comrade Orban got rid of most rot there firing old commie judges, but remember that having legal right and proof it are to different kind of animals, they can also sue you to Kwan courts too which will mean no steam sale for you, in this case I would advice just changing tittle like authors of Star Sectors once Starfarer did, its not fair but such is price of living in free and demoncratic west and being protected from Evul Putin and Xi hordes.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

Change your steam logo to this:

If you're gonna do the time, might as well do the crime.

 

[Alphons]

A lengthy journey towards place of residence.