The Russian | Hacker News Reader

The Russian

hemispheregames.com

62 pointsadmp26 comments

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."

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.

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.

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.

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

As an Eastern Euro, I didn't like that the post mentioned 'better read in a Russian accent' - implying that the subject is better judged if you take the common stereotype into account.

If you read through all of that, this doesn't sound like a squatting case at all. If he approached them first and offered them to buy the name, that would imply his intentions, but he didn't.

It also definitely isn't extortion.

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?

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

I also am a Russian, not offended at all (the guy was Russian, after all), and also believe the first question firmly falls into "political correctness in US is insane" category. I'm sure good old George (Carlin) would agree.

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

How do we even know s/he is Russian?

I read something about game theory that seemed to prove the best outcomes occur when you assume others act in good faith unless they've demonstrated otherwise in previous encounters.

by that я in his email. :)

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

(this would be a name squatting)

Ahem... Ukrainians, Belarusians and Tatars?

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

I think that is how the guy signed his email, hence "The Russian" moniker.

Not my impression. I think they didn't want to publish his name, so they opted for "The Russian" instead because the guy's "Russian-ness" is what stood out most in their mind after the interaction.

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.

Disagree.

Trademark nothing until it matters.

No investment, no profit, no trademark.

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.

"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.

I guess people who do it are hoping to make some sales off someone else's app's established name. See also: all of the 'hints' and 'cheats' apps that pop up for every popular iOS game.

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.

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...

From personal experience I think many a startup founder would think twice about the prospect of paying $50/mo for something like that.

To me that's a whole month's worth of food.

>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.

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