[Grace Patterson]

I would love to have some advice on what direction to take:

-Blackberry AppWorld allows anyone to submit an App using the same name of an existing App. This has happened to me with an offshore company. They names their App using my name. As a result, when I spend several hours/week in marketing my App, they have gained the benefit. This is extremely discouraging as a developer.

- In the meantime, the iTunes store has the following policies in place.

"Do not include the names of other applications in the description for your application
or application keywords. Referencing other applications in your application description
and keywords can be considered an attempt to fix search results and is
not advised."

"Please do not use competing app names or inappropriate words for your keywords."

"If there is already an application with the name you entered within the same territory as your application, you will be prompted to provide a unique name."

I have contacted AppWorld several times on this. They suggest that I pay $500 to get a trademark and basically have left me hang to dry. I have also contacted senior executives of the company and have not received any response.

I know that Apple is eating Blackberry's lunch and a lot of the reason for their success is that they encourage third party developers. In the meantime, while I try to stick it out with Blackberry's indifference, I am wondering if anyone else has come across this issue and how they resolved it. I guess I should cough up the $500 to get a trademark? If so, way to go, RIM! How many more roadblocks can you put in my way?