Tip: Shutting Things Down... But Not For Good

Are you thinking about phasing out a studio? Are you shelving a project? Sometimes that has to happen, but one thing to be careful of is how you handle the company/project name.

If you announce to the world "Studio XYZ is ending development and shutting down", do you really want someone else in the marketplace to form a new studio with the name "XYZ"?

If you want to try and prevent a competitor from adopting your former project's or studio's name, you need to find a way to keep using that name in connection with your business. Consider keeping a description of it on your web site or other marketing materials. Avoid a broad, all-encompassing press release describing your intention to "abandon" a project. There's a bit more detail to process to keep the name alive, but the key component is that you need to find some way to keep using that name.

If you don't take steps to maintain the name (it is your valuable trademark, after all), then you face the risk of someone new coming along and adopting it.