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[Ooops]

Hello.

I am currently in the process of developing a sim/management game (for the sake of argument, let's say it's about managing a record company).

I would like to call it, say, SimRecordCompany.

Would I be violating Electronic Arts trademark? From my research, it seems that only the names of the specific games (Simcity, Simearth, SimAnt, etc.) have been trademarked, but I'm no lawyer and I have no idea if this means that anyone can use other SimXxx names.

Would be most grateful for insight from anybody "in the know".

Take care,
Ooops

[Christian Knudsen]

I'm not a lawyer, but I wouldn't call my game SimAnything. It'd be like making an electronics device and calling it iSomething. You run quite a risk of getting in trouble.

[Bishop]

From what I understand, a lot of it has to do with additional similarities, like fonts, colours and logos. The idea is to protect customers from businesses attempting to mislead them into think they're the official whatever.

[Christian Knudsen]

Yeah, that's the purpose of trademarks, but sadly a lot of companies are quite over-protective of their trademarks (like the recent Scrolls thing), so it's probably best to steer completely clear of any potential legal issues. If you get sued by Maxis/EA for having a SimX name, you might have the law on your side, but are you really willing to go to court over it? I think that's the question you have to ask yourself...

[Leroy Binks]

I agree.  Distance yourself from the SimX title, but in all of your marketing text a heavy use of the word simulator and simulation should still get the search results hits you are looking for. 

Besides, RecordCompanyReplicant sounds pretty cool too.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

don't call it "Sim X"

however, feel free to call it "X Simulation"

[Ooops]

Thanks for all your answers.

Not really what I hoped, but really what I feared.
I suppose the fact that there hasn't been any non-maxis SimXxx that I can think of was a pretty good hint.

Happy new year !

[jotapeh]

There was a Sim-Something that wasn't by EA/Maxis, but it got shut down, and I can't remember what it was.

Also see: "Ville" suffix. Zynga actively pursues legal action against people who call their game "XYZVille" http://pixelsmashers.com/?p=12237

[leonelc29]

i don't really know how your sim work, but apparently KairoSoft developed a lot of sim and management game, one after another.

sim/management gameplay cannot be protected with copyright, what you really gonna avoid doing is what everyone said above. good luck dude.