Trademarks in Social Gaming – A Key Indicator of Success for Game Developers (Part II)
We recently conducted an Inside Trademarks™ study of the market performance and trademark management activity of certain major social game developers over the past two years (Q4 2007 - Q4 2009).
Here are some highlights of the research:
- The majority of social game developers (approx. 90%) do not seek trademark protection for their games.
- The most successful social game developers (approx. 10%), especially those on Facebook and MySpace, do seek trademark protection for their game titles and logos.
- Social game developers that actively and strategically manage their trademark portfolios tend to have higher user engagement or "stickyness" ratios (i.e. DAU/MAU) than those without trademark protection.
- Zynga's trademark filing activity in 2009 nearly eclipses the rest of the top social game developers:
- Zynga filed 26 trademarks alone in Q4 2009
- This was more than all of the other major players' trademark filings combined
- Sheer number of trademark filings alone, however, is not directly correlative to a company's success in the social gaming market.
- A combination of a number of factors, including but not limited to brand and market strategy, risk tolerance, timing, trademark filing and enforcement activity can be combined to provide a better indicator of success in the market.
For more details on this Inside Trademarks™ research, or to order our social gaming report, please contact us.
Click here to see Part I of this series.
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Trademarks in Social Gaming – A Key Indicator of Success for Game Developers (Part I)
Trademark Share in Social Gaming (Feb 27, 2010)
While you are probably familiar with the term "market share" when applied to a company's share of revenue or units sold in a particular market, how often have you heard the term "trademark share"? "Trademark share" is a term we use to refer to a company's share of registered and unregistered trademarks in a particular industry or market segment. It is a key metric and one of many useful tools, when appropriately used, to understand how well positioned a company is to gain some competitive advantage (e.g. more profit or revenue, better ROI on ad campaigns, defend or increase market share) within an industry or market segment.
"Share" pie charts are great visual aids for getting a snapshot of how a market looks at a certain point in time. To illustrate how the fast growing social game market currently looks from a "trademark share" perspective, we provide the chart above for your reference and as a starting point in discussions of our ongoing and extensive research in how the strategic management and use of trademarks impacts gaming industry, and in particular, the social gaming market.
Interested in learning more? Click here.
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Mafia Wars – Real Life Trademark Battle
If you have played the Mafia Wars game on Facebook then the logos shown above are familiar to you.
Can you tell (without scrolling over the images) which logo is for the Mafia Wars game and which one is not?
Zynga Games Network, the creator of the popular crime-themed social game Mafia Wars, is very concerned that you and millions of Mafia Wars fans may not get that question right, or even realize that Zynga is not behind both of these Mafia Wars trademarks. In fact, Zynga is so concerned that they recently filed an opposition action with the US Trademark office in an effort to prevent the other Mafia Wars logo from getting registered as a trademark.
Apparently, Mafia Wars isn't just a game ... it's real life when you're fighting over trademarks.
Background
On June 15, 2009, David L. Kelejian filed an intent-to-use trademark application for a stylized version of Mafia Wars covering clothing and apparel. Zynga did not file its stylized Mafia Wars trademark application covering games for computers and wireless devices until July 1, 2009, months after successfuly launching the game on the internet through Facebook. Zynga later began selling Mafia Wars branded clothing through Zazzle. By or before late November 2009, Zynga noticed Kelejian's pending trademark application for Mafia Wars, and filed its opposition with the trademark office on December 1, 2009.
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Top 4 Posts
- Trademarks in Social Gaming - A Key Indicator of Success for Game Developers (Part I)
- Mafia Wars - Real Life Trademark Battle
- Trademarks in Social Gaming - A Key Indicator of Success for Game Developers (Part II)
- 1-800 Contacts v. Contact Lens King - Use of Trademarks in Keyword Advertising