A revival of hit game Flappy Bird was announced recently, only to be exposed as a bizarre scheme by crypto bros who spent a decade trying to appropriate the trademark. They finally succeeded after the game's creator, who lives in Vietnam, neglected to reply to correspondence from the U.S. Patent Office.
"No, I have no related with their game. I did not sell anything," Nguyen wrote on social media over the weekend in his first post since 2017. "I also don't support crypto," Nguyen added.
Ars Technica reports on the unpleasant crypto schemes attached to the revival—and the details of how the new "Flappy Bird" guys came to control the trademark: How crypto bros wrested Flappy Bird from its creator
So how can another company release a game named Flappy Bird without Nguyen's approval or sale of the rights? Court filings show that a company called Gametech Holdings filed a "notice of opposition" against Nguyen with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in late 2023, seeking to invalidate his claim on the "Flappy Bird" name. When Nguyen, who lives in Vietnam, didn't respond to that notice by November, the US Patent and Trademark Office entered a default judgment against him and officially canceled his trademark in January, allowing Gametech to legally claim the name.
But Gametech's efforts to legally acquire the Flappy Bird name seem to go back much further than that. Back in 2014, an outfit called Mobile Media Partners tried to claim the Flappy Bird trademark in a filing made mere days after Nguyen pulled the game from the App Store. Coincidentally enough, the specific New Jersey address listed by Mobile Media Partners on that 2014 application matches an address used by Gametech Holdings in the paperwork for its 2023 legal efforts.
Mobile Media Partners' 2014 application makes reference to a (now-defunct) FlappyBirdReturns.com and asserts that the company had "reserved/acquired the name from Apple in their Apps Store [sic]." It also claims that "Flappy Bird" is "not being used by any other companies and/or people," taking quick advantage of Nguyen's decision to take the game down.
I'm sure everyone is looking forward to the launch of $FLAP.
I had a thought that doesn't seem to be addressed in any of the coverage: the crypto bros managed to get the "Flappy Bird" trademark, but they're using all the original game's graphical assets. That's covered by copyright, which can't be abandoned or appropriated the way trademarks can be. Crypto bros have a consistent blind spot about this distinction (remember the ones who thought buying Jodorowsky's Dune storyboards gave them the rights to Dune?) Nguyen appears to be as disengaged as he ever was, but if he's interested in turning screws that might be a fruitful method.
