I'm developing a small puzzle game called "Block Buster" and I was wondering if there will be any collision with already existing "Blockbuster" (movie rental company) registered trademark.
Does the space or case difference in the trademark mean something? Or is there any difference in that Blockbuster is a movie renting company and I will just be selling a game?
Do I really have to change the game's name?
I would say a programmer who has asked this exact question to his lawyer may be some help? I'm not a lawyer so take this as for what it is. blah blah blah
I asked this question about my IOS game which incidentally has the exact name as an album on iTunes. So it's not only the same name, it's the same name in the same store. Luckily my lawyer informed me that trademarks can only be enforced when there is a possibility of confusion of the two products or the names are the same in the same industry. In my case it was determined that a game is not a competitor or in the same industry as a song so I was given the OK. Granted my case is much more gray than yours.
I'm pretty sure nobody will confuse an indie developed block breaking game with the dying movie rental company. Just my thoughts.
You're unlikely to run into any trouble with Blockbuster the movie-rental folks, but might have (marginally) more issues being confused with Block Buster the Flash game, Blockbuster! the other Flash game, Block Buster the other other Flash game, or one of several games on the App Store, or possibly even Block Buster the arcade game.
(In other words, you're probably okay, but a more unusual name might be in order - especially if you want anyone to be able to search for your game without wading through several pages' worth of competing hits.)
If you don't want to take the risk of being taken to court then change the name. In reality it is unlikely you will be sued due to a game and a video rental store being in completely different markets. However, it's still possible thanks to the close resemblance in name.
I'm not a lawyer, etc.
Just pointing out that, even though the markets are very different, you could still have issues from over-zealous lawyers at Blockbuster (or any other similarly named company). See http://www.sparkfun.com/news/300 for an example in which SPARC, the mainframe server brand, sent a cease and desist to SparkFun, the hobby electronics online store, on the basis of a rather more tenuous link in trademark than Blockbuster/Block Buster.
No I have seen loads of Block Buster the arcade games on game distribution platforms and I can't see a problem with that. There are loads of Block Buster arcade games around.
