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Marvel Sues NcSoft over Characters in 'City of Heroes' MMORPG
by Elonka at 12:06 pm EST, Nov 12, 2004 |
] LOS ANGELES (AP) - Marvel Enterprises Inc. is suing two
] firms behind a computer superhero role-playing game it
] claims allows players to make virtual characters that are
] too similar to ``The Hulk,'' ``X-Men'' and other heroes
] in the comic book company's stable.
]
] The lawsuit claims South Korea-based NCSoft Corp. and San
] Jose-based Cryptic Studios Inc. violated Marvel's
] trademark characters in their game ``City of Heroes.''
] Marvel seeks unspecified damages and an injunction
] against the two companies to stop using its characters. As I understand it, NCSoft didn't create a Marvel character in the game, but they do give players the abilities to design their own characters, and a couple of those characters seem to be obvious copies of Marvel characters. In my own products, the way we usually deal with this is that if someone creates something which is an obvious ripoff of someone else's work, we tell them to zap it and start over. But that requires a fair amount of manpower to chase after customers, follow up complaints, and make judgment calls about what is and is not copyrighted material. For a much larger game with powerful and easy to use creation tools, that gets much more difficult. It'll be interesting to see how this works through the courts. |
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RE: Marvel Sues NcSoft over Characters in 'City of Heroes' MMORPG
by Decius at 1:56 pm EST, Nov 12, 2004 |
Elonka wrote:
] As I understand it, NCSoft didn't create a Marvel character in
] the game, but they do give players the abilities to design
] their own characters, and a couple of those characters seem to
] be obvious copies of Marvel characters. Seems a fair use to me. But then, I also think fan fiction ought to be a fair use. These activities do not diminish the marketability of the original product. If anything, they contribute to it. Our society must learn to differentiate between an instance where someone has taken the character set from a little known work, and recast it in a larger production in order to profit from someone else's ideas, and a situation where a large production has become so infused into our culture that it becomes part of the way that we express ourselves, and in that context someone uses a part of that production to express themselves. Referencing is not the same as stealing. |
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Marvel Sues 2 Cos. Over Role-Playing Game
by kaijuu at 9:47 am EST, Nov 12, 2004 |
] Marvel Sues 2 Cos. Over Role-Playing Game
]
]
] By ALEX VEIGA
]
]
] LOS ANGELES (AP) - Marvel Enterprises Inc. is suing two
] firms behind a computer superhero role-playing game it
] claims allows players to make virtual characters that are
] too similar to ``The Hulk,'' ``X-Men'' and other heroes
] in the comic book company's stable.
]
]
] The lawsuit claims South Korea-based NCSoft Corp. and San
] Jose-based Cryptic Studios Inc. violated Marvel's
] trademark characters in their game ``City of Heroes.''
] Marvel seeks unspecified damages and an injunction
] against the two companies to stop using its characters. |
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