Activision|Blizzard Sues Valve!

[lizard81288]

Blizzard is in the process of suing Valve over the trademarking of the name “DOTA." As many of you probably know, Valve is currently developing a fully-fledged sequel to the original WarCraft III mod -- a mod they didn't originally create, mind you -- and is attempting to officially claim the name for themselves through the US Patent and Trademark offices, much to the dissatisfaction of Blizzard, who sees the term DOTA as theirs by extension. The matter will now be settled in court, where Blizzard and Valve will each make the case for why they deserve to be the trademark holder of the name DOTA.

As Blizzard sees it, while they didn't create the free Defense of the Ancients mod for WarCraft III, it has become synonymous to a product they did create. DOTA would not exist if it wasn't for the foundation Blizzard built with WarCraft III. If the roles were reversed, it would be like Blizzard seeing the success of the original Counter-Strike, a fan-made mod for Valve's Half-Life, and developing a Counter-Strike 2 without the consent of Valve, making money off a property that wasn't theirs to begin with.

In legal mumbo-jumbo, here's how Blizzard is expressing their frustration in the matter:

"In contrast to Blizzard, Applicant Valve Corporation ("Valve") has never used the mark DOTA in connection with any product or service that currently is available to the public. By attempting to register the mark DOTA, Valve seeks to appropriate the more than seven years of goodwill that Blizzard has developed in the mark DOTA and in its Warcraft III computer game and take for itself a name that has come to signify the product of years of time and energy expended by Blizzard and by fans of Warcraft III. Valve has no right to the registration it seeks. If such registration is issued, it not only will damage Blizzard, but also the legions of Blizzard fans that have worked for years with Blizzard and its products, including by causing consumers to falsely believe that Valve's products are affiliated, sponsored or endorsed by Blizzard and are related or connected to Warcraft III."

Stepping outside my personal opinions on both development companies, I think Blizzard has a strong case, unless I'm completely missing something in the fine print of this lawsuit. The original DOTA was a free mod for WarCraft III and now Valve is developing a sequel to pass the IP off as their own. That seems fishy.

Either way, the courts will soon decide who gets the rights to the name. The last shot fired was in November of last year when Blizzard followed up their original filing, stating they "respectfully request that this Opposition be granted."

I wonder who will win, The fan favorite Valve or the money grabbing Activision|Blizzard. I don't know enough about the subject, but it seems Valve wants to use the name DOTA 2, however, DOTA is a name used for mods in WoW.

From what i've read, both tried to trademark it, but in the end, the court ruled that Valve got it. Maybe Activision|Blizzard is pissed and are trying to throw a wrench into the gears for Valve

[CSXIV]

Blizzard probably. They have more money

[JKDarkside]

Activision is going too go down in flames or at least get a huge backlash in the future. Something tells me their strategy is to go EA and do more casual friendly titles instead of the stuff they make right now. CoD will eventually run out of yearly steam and go the way of Guitar Hero, put to sleep for a few years. After that, they have no other major series to abuse. At least WoW will keep them in money for a long time.

[overture2112]

Blizzard probably. They have more money

One would think that neither has a proper claim to the name, but your reasoning will probably win out in actuality.

That said, if Blizzard does in fact own the name of a mod/map created for their game, do they also own the names of all the inappropriate mods/maps for their games (eg, "Dodge the rapist" for Starcraft 1)? Do they bare responsibility for the contents? I guess that explains their policing efforts.

[ollieisamuppet]

If nobody currently owns (in the legal sense) the trademark for DOTA, then technically, anyone is free to register it. Hell, even you or I could.

If they cared so much about it as an IP, why didn't they buy it themselves? They already admitted they've had 7 years to do it. Besides (and please, correct me if I'm wrong here) Valve have a history of *purchasing* mods and bettering them. Left4Dead also started as a mod and has now become an extremely valuable license to them.

How can you deny someone the right to register a trademark you don't own yourself?

If you claim ownership of everything "by extension", where does it end?

[SpuzzHardwick]

Quite a sticky situation. Originally while reading the first post I sided with Blizzard because the Counter-Strike argument made sense to me. But you guys are right. If nobody owns rights to DOTA, then who knows? You'd think the mod creators would copyright the name right?

[skullpoker]

This should be decided depending on how closely valves game copies the original Warcraft3 mod. If the mechanics and core system are the same, Blizz should have some claim.
If it covers the material of the mod with different gameplay mechanics, the the Mod designers have a very legit claim to the IP.

Valve should seriously have contacted the Mod creators about this. It would give them a much stronger case to already have contracts in place with them, and they are probably a lot less greedy than Blizzard.

[gezegond]

It is pretty clear that the copyright should be owned by the mod creators. That's how it is in US, copyright is your when you create something. You don't need to go to a copyright office and copyright it. So copyright shouldn't be owned by either Valve or Blizzard.

Edit: It seems that the mod developer (not creator) "Ice Frog" is hired by valve. The mod was "passed" to him by the previous author. So if I have to choose between Valve and Blizzard in this fight, I choose Valve.

Although the mod was created on Warcraft game, the copyright belongs to the one who originally conceived the idea. As an example, if I create a piece of art using Adobe Photoshop, the copyright of that piece of art belongs to me, not Adobe. Adobe just provided the tools. It doesn't matter if they provide the tools free or not. That's why the copyright should be owned by DOTA's original creator. It seems the work has been passed to Ice Frog, who was hired by Valve. So the copyright should be owned by valve now.

[skullpoker]

It is pretty clear that the copyright should be owned by the mod creators. That's how it is in US, copyright is your when you create something. You don't need to go to a copyright office and copyright it. So copyright shouldn't be owned by either Valve or Blizzard.

Edit: It seems that the mod developer (not creator) "Ice Frog" is hired by valve. The mod was "passed" to him by the previous author. So if I have to choose between Valve and Blizzard in this fight, I choose Valve.

Although the mod was created on Warcraft game, the copyright belongs to the one who originally conceived the idea. As an example, if I create a piece of art using Adobe Photoshop, the copyright of that piece of art belongs to me, not Adobe. Adobe just provided the tools. It doesn't matter if they provide the tools free or not. That's why the copyright should be owned by DOTA's original creator. It seems the work has been passed to Ice Frog, who was hired by Valve. So the copyright should be owned by valve now.

That's Awesome! You feel like e-mailing Valve about this?

[Mr. Nemo]

There are multiple people who developed and co-created DOTA. Many of those people used usernames and not their real names, so it's pretty much impossible to legitimately know who they are. Multiple people can claim ownership of it because of that fact (not to forget, most mods like DOTA never have strict contracts on who owns what). Some guy saying the rights were passed to them is close to meaningless and that can be debated. Without any proof of consent, it can be pretty easy to make a case. I'm guessing this is where Activison is making their case. I mean, there are already two other DOTA clones out there by people who said they were on the DOTA team. I wouldn't be surprised if Activision hired another co-creator or developer of DOTA to make their own version of DOTA 2.

What makes me curious is why hasn't Blizzard made a WoW themed DOTA? They already to it in their MMO. Why not make it a stand alone game?

[gezegond]

Just because it's unclear who the first author was doesn't mean that anyone can just jump in and claim copyright. The judge has to find out who the original author is. If the original author cannot be determined, that would mean neither Blizzard or Valve have copyright ownership over DOTA.

Then there are other factors here in play.
First: "IceFrog" could essentially prove that mod copyright is owned by him if he could provide emails from original authors stating that they have passed the mod to him. Email is accepted as your identity, so even if the judge doesn't know the original author's real name, the email can prove his consent.
Second: Valve has never used "Defense of the Ancients" term. They used the term DOTA instead. If everything fails, valve can make some gameplay adjustments, and claim that their game "DOTA" has got nothing to do with the mod "Defense of the Ancients". They could get into trademark ownership problems if Activision gets the copyright though.

[Kouen Hasuki]

I wonder who will win, The fan favorite Valve or the money grabbing Activision|Blizzard. I don't know enough about the subject, but it seems Valve wants to use the name DOTA 2, however, DOTA is a name used for mods in WoW. Warcraft III

From what i've read, both tried to trademark it, but in the end, the court ruled that Valve got it. Maybe Activision|Blizzard is pissed and are trying to throw a wrench into the gears for Valve

This is more a blizzard side thing than Activision.

Also Blizzards stance is that it was tied to Warcraft III as a mod and should remain a community name, Valve wishes to trademark it as its coming into its portfolio.

Both sides have valid points.

[alieo01]

Blizzard is not trying to make money of this, they are trying to protect the IP from being exploited and someone making money of something that the community made. I think Blizzard does have a case here, cause DOTA has always been associated with Starcraft and Warcraft.

[Elmdor Rizer]

If nobody currently owns (in the legal sense) the trademark for DOTA, then technically, anyone is free to register it. Hell, even you or I could.

If they cared so much about it as an IP, why didn't they buy it themselves? They already admitted they've had 7 years to do it. Besides (and please, correct me if I'm wrong here) Valve have a history of *purchasing* mods and bettering them. Left4Dead also started as a mod and has now become an extremely valuable license to them.

How can you deny someone the right to register a trademark you don't own yourself?

If you claim ownership of everything "by extension", where does it end?

Surely most western countries allow for trademarks that are made by "usage", not just registration (every country in the EU sure do, and I thought the US was supposed to be sorta similar, what with that TRIPS-treaty and all)? That along with additional protection for well-known companies (I can't register the trademark "Pokémon" for my new shampoo, even if Nintendo doesn't sell Pokémon Shampoo... which they probably do) would prevent just anyone from "stealing" trademarks.

Gezegond: Copyright to something doesn't mean that the title of the thing that you've created is suddenly your trademark.

What I don't personally understand is why the hell Activizzard even wants the trademark. They don't own or offer this product.

[gezegond]

I can't register the trademark "Pokémon" for my new shampoo, even if Nintendo doesn't sell Pokémon Shampoo... which they probably do

Gezegond: Copyright to something doesn't mean that the title of the thing that you've created is suddenly your trademark.

I know man, but that won't stop activision from trying you know.

What I don't personally understand is why the hell Activizzard even wants the trademark. They don't own or offer this product.

They didn't care about it before, but now that they see valve is trying to make some money out of it they've gone all OMG THAT WAS MINE YOU THIEF about it! It's what the company lawyers are paid to do. Square Enix doesn't make any profit on Chrono Trigger remakes either, that didn't stop them from DMCA bombing the fan remake. It's some kind of "I can do it so I will" mentality.