Ask HN: "What's the Word" and IP protection on the App Store

4 points by kjackson2012 13y ago ↗ HN

Apparently, there's a recently popular game called "What's the Word" on the IOS App Store. However, if you search for it, you'll see a bunch of games WITH THE EXACT SAME NAME AND SAME LOOK, to the point where you can't tell which is the actual real game. There's even one purporting to the the "Official" version, when it's not.

How can the App Store allow this brazen theft of IP?

And does this disincentivize developers from releasing anything if they can be so completely copied to the point where they use the same name?

1 comment

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grabeh 13y ago ↗

'What's the Word' is a poor trade mark in that it is very descriptive and not particularly distinctive. If the game had a really distinctive trade mark around it, the maker would be better placed to request a takedown of the other apps if they copied the name.

I'd need a side-by-side comparison to judge copyright infringement better.