Blizzard and Valve at War Over DOTA Name

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aliened

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^^^^^ true, it was a mod, not an official game by Blizzard. On the other hand, Vlave DOES have an official game and is doing what he is supposed to do if he wants to protect its intellectual property. It would be very different if this was just another troll patent claim, but because Valve actually invested time and money into a real project they have all the rights to claim ownership of the name. And wtf with Blizzard on charging royalties over something that they didn't actually own?...
 

humphreybot

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it might come down to interpretation of usa copyright law. which in its base form is very simple. just having something "printed" can constitute copyright. ie, a term paper for school is automatically copyrighted. without need of a filing. i think blizzard will win this one.....unless the mod creators step into the fray........
 

erunion

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The DOTA name should either a) belong to the modders that developed the original or b) be public domain like RTS or FPS. I prefer b.
 

kcorp2003

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if you read the license agreement for Warcraft, it pretty much give Blizzard rights to do this. But yeah, like amdfangirl said, "If Blizzard wanted to give gamers 'goodwill' they would let DOTA 2 release"
 

deadlydave

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This has nothing to do with patents or copyright. They are looking to prevent Valve from getting the DOTA trademark. Trademarks need to be registered and are not automatically given.
 

deadlydave

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This has nothing to do with patents or copyright. They are looking to prevent Valve from getting the DOTA trademark. Trademarks need to be registered and are not automatically given.
 

Parsian

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If Blizzard has the right, I would say to Blizzard: "SWAP IT FOR HL3 FRANCHISE" since VALVE seems to have no interest in developing its iconic IP but in very interested in neighbours' grass. I bet you if blizzard with its massive money, hired the original cast and crew, and developed HL3, it would have been something.

 

arcu86

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DOTA wouldn't exist it wasn't for Warcraft III's development tools thus, it is a offspring of blizzard's product, blizzard owns entitlement not to the title of "DOTA" but to the birth of it. DOTA has mechanics from warcraft III's hero and micro system, and game play mechanics. Blizzard certainly shouldn't let one of its offspring go to other hands even if its only 75% or 50% blizzard, its still one of there children.
 

NuclearShadow

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Due to the digital millenium copyright act within US law anything that is made is automatically copyrighted to the creators of the content. This means in the case of DOTA the creators of such would own all the content they produced and very likely can control the usage of the name.

I for example cannot take the name of the Half-life 2 mod Synergy and make a retail game in it's likeness with the name Synergy 2 claiming to be a sequel of Synergy. If I did and was selling the game that would be a big no-no and be sued, rightfully so too.

Sounds like Valve is in the wrong right? Nope, they did the right steps and hired the creator of DOTA who is the legal copyright holder of the first game. With obviously having the blessing of their new employee who is leading the project. Blizzard has no case they could have done this years ago but failed to and once again Valve snatches up a creative and intelligent individual who will further make Valve even greater.
 

emperorxyz

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I'd say on one hand, Blizzard does have a point. But on the other, I'd really like to play anything Valve makes. If I was the judge, I'd make Valve pay a small compensation and be able to continue developing DOTA 2.
 

NuclearShadow

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[citation][nom]emperorxyz[/nom]I'd say on one hand, Blizzard does have a point. But on the other, I'd really like to play anything Valve makes. If I was the judge, I'd make Valve pay a small compensation and be able to continue developing DOTA 2.[/citation]


No, they really do not. Team Fortress was originally a Quake mod the creators were hired by Valve and made TFC and TF2 while with Valve. You do not see id software claiming to own any rights to Team Fortress, you do not see them kicking and screaming despite the popularity and success of Team Fortress. Why? Because they have no rights to it. The fact that the mod was originally developed on their engine and game gives them no ownership to anything that they did not personally create including the Team Fortress name.

Valve is 100% in the right here.
 

phraun

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[citation][nom]arcu86[/nom]DOTA wouldn't exist it wasn't for Warcraft III's development tools thus, it is a offspring of blizzard's product, blizzard owns entitlement not to the title of "DOTA" but to the birth of it. DOTA has mechanics from warcraft III's hero and micro system, and game play mechanics. Blizzard certainly shouldn't let one of its offspring go to other hands even if its only 75% or 50% blizzard, its still one of there children.[/citation]

The Warcraft series wouldn't exist without the use of the MS-DOS (and later Windows) environment provided by Microsoft, thus it's a child product of MS's own OS. As such, Microsoft should obviously own the Warcraft name and anything associated with it.

(obligatory sarcasm tag)
 

fuxxnuts

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[citation][nom]NuclearShadow[/nom]No, they really do not. Team Fortress was originally a Quake mod the creators were hired by Valve and made TFC and TF2 while with Valve. You do not see id software claiming to own any rights to Team Fortress, you do not see them kicking and screaming despite the popularity and success of Team Fortress. Why? Because they have no rights to it. The fact that the mod was originally developed on their engine and game gives them no ownership to anything that they did not personally create including the Team Fortress name.Valve is 100% in the right here.[/citation]


QFT -- blizzard owns wa rcraft (tm), and thats about it...
 

kcorp2003

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[citation][nom]emperorxyz[/nom]I'd say on one hand, Blizzard does have a point. But on the other, I'd really like to play anything Valve makes. If I was the judge, I'd make Valve pay a small compensation and be able to continue developing DOTA 2.[/citation]

valve doesn't really make anything with the exception of Half-Life. they just get people that are creative (modders) take them in and make some final polish to their games and release it like portal, Counter-Strike, etc... much of their success is thanks to mods. The developers are all third-party mod that Valve purchased and developed into a full game :) just like DOTA 2. also DOTA 2 had a long history before valve took them under their wings ;)
 

invlem

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From reading this I don't think blizzard is doing anything wrong here.

Nowhere does it say Blizzard is pursuing the trademark for DOTA, they're just attempting to stop Valve from trademarking it.
 

Zeppelingcdm

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Most of you really didn't read the article. Blizzard says right in it that the only want to stop Valve from Trademarking the IP. They said nothing about stopping the game or even taking money off of sales. (" The full Notice of Opposition, which was filed on November 16, 2011, can be read here. Blizzard merely wants the trademark office to block Valve's attempt.")Blizzard is just simply making sure that the trademark to a franchise they gave birth to isn't lost to them. It's the smart move, next thing you know Valve would be claiming that Blizzard should be paying them to use their own brand, i.e the original DOTA IP's. It seams to me to be really stupid. Valve should have been happy with being able to make and release the game. Trademarking it seems like a slap in the face to Blizzard and greedy.
 

digiex

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Ice Frog coined the DOTA name, It belongs to nobody but the millions of DOTA player worldwide, nobody should own it as their own.
 

Pherule

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As far as I'm concerned, the name DotA belonged to Eul, who then passed it on to Guinsoo, who then passed it on to IceFrog. I like Blizzard as much as the next guy who enjoys their games, but really, it is up to IceFrog as to what he wants to do with it. If he is siding with Valve, then too bad for Blizzard.
 
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