App names

[FinancialWar]

What is the policy on app names? It is on a first in first serve basis?

Can I make an app as as name holder and then sell it to developers?

 

[ocnbrze]

moved you to the app forums.

i unfortunately do not know anything about app development and naming rights.

 

[Hadron]

Just look on the Play Store and you'll find many apps with the same name (try something generic like "SMS Backup" and see what you get). So I don't think that "app name squatting" is going to work

 

[FinancialWar]

yes, I see a lot of app have the same name, wouldn't that cause confusion to customers? google don't have any policy on this? What if some idiot decide to make a bogus music app called "poweramp" and con consumer with it?

 

[Hadron]

Dunno. I guess if you trademark the name you'd have some comeback (whether Google would act, or whether you'd have to take action yourself, I don't know). A blatant con using a distinctively-named, popular app I could imagine getting more response than a generic name or a little-known app.

I suspect that if someone releases an app called "Angry Birds" they'll find out how that works quickly enough.

Seriously, it's one reason why when suggesting an app I'll sometimes include the developer's name as well as the app name, or provide a link, because sometimes the app name isn't enough to be unambiguous.

 

[hstroph]

Usually just a subtle variation with an app's name is all that's necessary ... instead of "Angry Birds" they'll just call it "Married Birds" and out-sell the original app.