

The Russian - admp
http://www.hemispheregames.com/2010/12/18/the-russian/

======
gcheong
_But a few weeks later, when we were almost ready to submit Osmos (for iPhone)
we tried the submission process again and - lo and behold - the name Osmos was
available! We’re not sure what happened actually, but we suspect we owe
someone at Apple a thank you._

I'm pretty sure it's because of this rule in the system that exists to prevent
name squatting (from the iTunes Connect Developer guide pg.70):

"Once you have created your app, and it is in the state Prepare For Upload or
Waiting For Upload, you will have 120 days (4 months) from your creation date
in iTunes Connect, to deliver a binary to Apple. If you do not deliver a
binary before the 120-day deadline, your app will be deleted from iTunes
Connect. As a result of this deletion, your app name will be able to be used
by another developer and you cannot reuse the app name, SKU or Bundle ID."

------
campnic
When I got to the end of the email, I kind of figured the Osmos development
team might have felt some compassion. The bottom line is there is a
presumption of guilt here when this guy could have been entirely honest. He
even offered to take it down if they showed documented evidence that they
owned the name. I didn't find his request for compensation to be in line with
what a squatter would request. Perhaps I don't the know the full extent of the
squatting issue for apple.

------
gcheong
So at what point is someone "cybersquatting" if they reserve a name in advance
of developing a product? It doesn't sound like "The Russian" set out to squat
on the name solely hoping to get someone to pay up but did take advantage of
the situation once it presented itself.

~~~
Archaeum
They said they began development before an iOS version of Osmos was announced,
but if they were aware of the original game (and it sounds like they may
been), a reasonable person would probably have concluded it wiser to choose a
new name. Even if they weren't aware, I can't imagine settling on a product
name without searching for it. Furthermore, instead of costs to rebrand their
work (which would have been questionable enough), they asked for full
development costs plus anticipated sales, which would suggest they had no
intention of releasing anything.

------
d0mine
How this piece would sound if you replace "The Russian" by "The Jew", "The
Black", or "The Lady"

~~~
raquo
You know, most people I've met don't mind being called by their nationality or
hearing a joke involving nationalities. Now, granted, I've met many more
Russians than any other nationality, but I think we're more like the rest of
the world in this regard than Europe or USA where political correctness gets
insane. And what the hell could possibly wrong with "The Lady", let alone the
other two, if that's the way she calls herself?

~~~
shortlived
I think the point is more that it is reinforcing a negative stereotype, that
all Russians pirate software, squat on names, etc.

~~~
awakeasleep
Ok, this will sound bad, but who really acted to reinforce that stereotype?

~~~
shortlived
How do we even know s/he is Russian?

~~~
fedd
by that я in his email. :)

no-one can put я and sign as The Russian except Russians.

(this would be a name squatting)

~~~
drdaeman
Ahem... Ukrainians, Belarusians and Tatars?

~~~
shortlived
I think fedd was kidding... don't forget Bulgarians and Tuvans.

------
mmaunder
As a site note: Make sure you spend the (roughly) $500 bucks to get your
trademark on file with the USPTO. While this doesn't grant you rights to your
name or make it yours, it does get your use of the name and start date on
record with the USPTO - which is very important if you ever end up in a
dispute like this one.

~~~
andrewljohnson
Disagree.

Trademark nothing until it matters.

No investment, no profit, no trademark.

------
Zev
I never got the point of cyber squatting on the App Store. Is it just to be an
ass? You can't transfer names between accounts, so unless you buy an account
for each name, you can't sell it.

~~~
gcheong
"You can't transfer names between accounts, so unless you buy an account for
each name, you can't sell it."

What you _can_ do is delete your app, which will then release the name for use
by others.

------
vaksel
maybe apple should just start charging those who reserve names. A real
developer would be willing to pay $50/mo to keep their name reserved during
the time it takes to release the app. A cyber squatter will go broke reserving
500 different names.

~~~
Tichy
And you would also pay 50$/mo for Android, the each of the hundreds of Android
Markets, Blackberry, Ovi, Facebook, Twitter and so on? It could get
expensive...

------
Herring
_> Now everyone knows that you’re more likely to get the information you need
by searching for “milk” in Google, rather than hope that Milk.com has the
information you’re looking for. _

Exactly. This is why non-tech people type "hotmail.com" into google. Links are
a horrible UI for most everyone.

