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Ask HN: Apple copied my App Name, what do I do now?

7 points by imothee ↗ HN
I woke up this morning to see some really confusing news. An app with the exact same name as my soon to be released app had been released by Apple. What do I do now?

Some backstory.

I had begun work on this app in 2009 but got distracted thanks to a hectic life (marriage etc) and had early this year started working on it again. I registered the *app.com domain and submitted a basic binary to Apple for Review. I pulled the binary and began working on it, trying a whole heap of ideas and talking to family and friends on what they'd want in the app.

I work a day job and money is tight so I don't have tons of time to spend, and definitely not the money to register the trademark locally (Australia) let alone the US. I'd say I was about 2 months off of release at this stage after spending a ton of time working with server components to store and share the information on a budget. The site is also blank as I didn't have the bandwidth to set it up nicely and I wanted to be a bit stealthy as the name gives an extremely obvious indication of what it does.

So now Apple has released an App with the exact same spelling as my app (and obviously a very similar functionality based on the name) while mine is still in iTunesConnect ready for binary submission and approval.

I just feel gutted, I'm not sure I can release the App now (since it directly competes) and I don't want to rebrand all the artwork and domain. If I do release it, I feel like I'd look bad for trying to hang off Apples success and not sure I can cope with the support required for users who install my app and wonder why their friends aren't on it. I didn't even get a notice from Apple about any of this. Do they even check for existing apps?

Does anyone have any input on where to go from here?

Thanks

13 comments

[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 42.1 ms ] thread
nirvana
Apple gives you only 90 days to register a name, and in fact, posting a fake binary to iTunes to hold the name is a violation of the ToS.

Frankly, it sounds like they beat you to market. It doesn't sound like they copied your name at all. (You'd have had to release the App for that claim to stick.)

Come up with a different name. If the idea is good, it won't be a big problem.

wmf
I guess you're talking about Find My Friends.

Apple either doesn't check or just doesn't care; see "iTV", "iPhone", and "IOS".

At this point you cannot go to market with the existing name. If you think your app is worth less than the cost of changing the name (really?) then admit to yourself that you weren't serious anyway and abandon it.

imothee
It's not that the app is worth less than the cost of changing the name. Though right now it seems a bit worthless to try and compete with Apple.

It's the fact that I thought I had made my intentions very clear of my intent to use the brand with Apple through iTunesConnect. Apart from releasing it I did everything else. Just feels like Apple didn't even care to look and it makes me question developing for their platform.

I kinda thought that the whole iOS platform was perfect for the little guys without needing the hassle of the cover your ass lawyers. Guess I was wrong, lesson learned the hard way.

dholowiski
If the app is on IOS by default, it's probably not worth competing with. But if it's in the app store and you have to click to download/buy it, then it's definetley worth competing with, if you can do better than Apple. All Apple does is raises the awareness and build the 'want' for that application for you.

Oh, and Apple is great for us small guys, the same way Paypal is. It's great, unless/until they decide to stomp on you and crush you, then it's not so great.

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chc
What do you think a lawyer would do to stop Apple from releasing into a market before you manage to?
staunch
We know what Steve would say:

    Change your apps name. Not that big of a deal.

    Steve

    Sent from my iPhone
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/11/steve-jobs-to-develop...
imothee
Hand't seen that before. Not quite the same situation but applicable, I learnt a crash course in trademarks and cover your ass for startups. Guess I should look at it as a big learning experience instead of a downer.
tunaslut
Sounds like Apple has validated your idea for you - it's a good one, change the name, release the app. People like choice anyway and if you capture a piece of the pie from good keywords and app description, you might be able to ride on a demand that Apple will create for you through their marketing.
mjs00
You'll probably now have to reconsider name as Apple most likely has filed a Trademark on this. So whatever "" is, any derivation of that: app, central, etc... would probably be blocked now.

Best course is to probably brainstorm what differentiates your app from Apple, as potential basis for your new name.

Maybe you can take your domain expertise you've gained and go 'vertical' or specialized to build your beachhead adjacent to Apple's mass-market focus?

chubs
I'd be pretty stoked, personally - i mean, it proves that you're onto a good idea for an app if apple also spent the effort to make a similar app. So rename it and launch!
bmelton
So, in addition to the existing advice, the one thing I'm not seeing that I would suggest is kind of novel...

Keep the app. Keep the name. Release it on the Android market.