Question

I have an android app on Google Play published.
When I developed it, I falsely assumed that the domain name corresponding to my package names first 2 parts (com.radlmaier) was registered by my brother, which would be fine (He is not into IT Development)

Today I found out that my brother’s domain name is radlmaier.net instead of radlmaier.com. So, I checked if I can register radlmaier.com and found out it is already taken but for sale. A further inquiry turned out that the owner wants at least 1800 USD for the domain.

Clearly, I cant nor I am willing to pay as much for a name which is not generic. Obviously the owner is speculating with domain names (which, btw, under german law would be prohibited).

So what are the actual implications?

As far as I understand, noone can use my complete package name com.radlmaier….. as it is already in use on Google Play.
I dont want to change my package name because current users of the app wouldnt get any automatic updates.
But what are the further implications? Could there be any problems in the future?

I should note, that the name “radlmaier” is very rare in Germany, nearly everybody carrying this faily name is related to my family more or less directly.

While Google recommends to use reverse domain names as package names, nothing stops noone to choose otherwise?

Answer 1

So what are the actual implications?

There are probably no actual implications.

As far as I understand, noone can use my complete package name com.radlmaier….. as it is already in use on Google Play.

Correct.

Could there be any problems in the future?

Well, sure. Somebody could register 10,000 apps in com.radlmaier, another 10,000 in net.radlmaier, and maybe a few thousand apiece in org.radlmaier, etc. for good measure. That seems unlikely, but nothing is stopping anyone from doing so.

While Google recommends to use reverse domain names as package names, nothing stops noone to choose otherwise?

The reverse-domain-name recommendation originated with Java for package names, to try to prevent accidental collisions. Nothing stops intentional collisions, short of trademarks and lawsuits. Owning the domain name is an incremental improvement in collision avoidance over not owning the domain name, but it is not a guarantee by any stretch of the imagination. So, if the domain name pops up some year for normal rates (check a few weeks after the current registration expires), you might want to grab it, and you might consider going with net.radlmaier for future apps. But I would not lie awake nights worrying about this.