Have you recently noticed a competitor using your brand as part of its new App name? Or are you a business who has received a complaint from the App Store relating to your own App name? If so, you may need to comply with Apple’s App Name Dispute Process in order to resolve the matter.
What to do if you are a brand owner
If you are a brand owner and have identified an App which uses your name, you may be able to seek redress through Apple’s App Name Dispute Process.
If a new App name is identical with, or similar to, your trade mark and is being used for the same or similar goods and services, trade mark infringement may have occurred. For example, if an App name incorporates an established brand, the App developer may have infringed the brand owner’s rights.
Rights owners can submit an App Name Dispute Form direct to Apple. Following receipt of the form, Apple will contact the provider of the disputed App and ask that the parties work together to resolve the matter.
If the provider of the disputed App is found to have used a trade mark without consent, Apple may delete the App from the App Store, and the developer may also be removed from the Apple Developer Program.
If the App Name Dispute Process does not provide suitable redress, you may also issue separate trade mark infringement proceedings against the App provider.
What to do if you are an App provider
If you are the provider of an App which is subject to an App Store dispute, you may be able to work with the rights owner to resolve the issue. The resolution may involve modifying the name of the App or changing the App’s logo.
Get in touch
If you would like assistance with the preparation of, or responding to, an App Name Dispute Form, please contact Rebecca Anforth (Legal Director) or Stacey Gillard (Trainee Solicitor). You can reach Rebecca by email at rebecca.anforth@murrellslaw.com. You can contact Stacey by email at stacey.gillard@murrellslaw.com.
