Let’s say I release a small indie game, or a group of several people make a game together. They would want to release it with a special developer name. If they don’t have the money to purchase an official name, would they be able to create a name and use it? Would the phrase “All rights reserved” be good enough for a released project? Is “Copyright 2014 (Enter name here)” good protection?
Again, not a lawyer.
I’m speaking in terms of the U.S.:
Honestly I wouldn’t worry about a company name until you’re ready to release. Talk about it with the group as you go, but it can be cumbersome to deal with.
As soon as you want to go about it you can choose whatever name you want, just know that if you don’t register it with the federal government anyone can use the name in any other state. Also, legally you can end up in trouble if you are selling goods without a license, the government wants their tax money. However, that also depends on who you have publish the game, whether it’s in house or 3rd party.
Edit: To more specifically answer your question, as soon as you release a title under your, unregistered, company name, assuming you aren’t infringing on someone else’s copyright, you have limited rights to those names. Which means you ‘own’ them, but in an ambiguous way. It depends more on the state in that circumstance, if I remember correctly.
I’d highly recommend looking into copyright law or speaking with a legal representative.
Maybe you can register it as a trademark only in the USA and in a few countries until you can afford registering worldwide (which costs about 13 000 € for ten years). In the meantime, use the symbol ™ so that nasty guys know that they are looking for trouble if they use your special developer name and replace it by ® when you get the registration certificate.