Activision Mad About Modern Warfare 3 Site, Trying to Get it Taken Down

[SL33TBL1ND]

I can see why they're doing this, but I think they'd get better PR from laughing it off as the joke it is.

That means they would lose the trademark, though.

I don't think you know about trademark laws. Some guy buying a domain name which is the same as a brand name doesn't make the company lose their trademark.

 

[ACM_Shadow]

Unlike with the current website (which has gone offline), as long as they never linked it to direct market competition, they can use that domain for anything they want really. I think the ultimate troll, although it might cost them the domain considering how the justice system likes to give corporations power, would be to advertise the combat of this laser-tag as: "Something we work to improve constantly and not deliver the same experience every single time to get free cash" or "No kids allowed" or "Teamwork emphasized" or "No teabagging or unnecessary swearing" or "Realistic physics and gameplay, so it feels like you're holding a gun in your hand and not a toy laser." All of those work as legitimate ways to advertise this fictional business while also sending a slight towards Activision. As long as it said somewhere on the website that your still trying to "gain funding and land", there is absolutely nothing Activision could do to take that domain.

Win right there... i know of a paintball place in AUS that actually has a field based off a CoD lvl (even has the US tail-number on a trashed plane instead of the aussie VH ';..;' grrr)

Feel sorry for the dude the made modernwarfare3.com as activision is gonna make his life a pain, but this is still hilarious and i hope he is able to keep the site.(why didnt they register the domain, Activision=short minded idiots) Still dont understand how they got modern warfare 3.. CoD3, CoD:MW, CoD:WoW, CoD:MW2(tanked).. at least be consistent. Also maybe www.CoDMW3.com

PS: not a CoD player so unsure if CoD:WoW is in the right spot, i stopped playing them when my CoD 3 disc started freezing.

 

[TheRealCJ]

Do you know what this is Activision?

Judging by the lack of a neck rest, and the extend tailpiece, I'd say a Tiny Cello.

 

[ecoho]

actually if (as it seems) the domain was purchased before the game was made activision must buy it from the one who owns the domain name.

Activision owns the Modern Warfare registered trademark, bro. Has since well before MW2 came out. Before the domain was registered. Nice try.

it is not covered under copyright laws since it does not include call of duty in the title so yeah activision's screwed if the guy who bought it wont sell.

The fact you're bringing up copyright law means you're not knowing what you're talking about.

(its also not protected by trademark law as activision had yet to register the name at the time the site was made.)

Registering a trademark is not relevant to it, they've claimed the trademark long ago. Perchasing a domain is irrelevant to this.

There's only two possibilities: Either Activision owns the trademark, or the website does. The website did not challenge Activision for the trademark, which means that it loses the right to claim it.

See how that works? IF you want to say you have a trademark, you HAVE to fight for it. That's the most important part of it under the law, not the registering bit.

im not gonna try and explain this to you but in the eyes of the LAW the domain name is not protected by trademark law.

 

[DracoSuave]

actually if (as it seems) the domain was purchased before the game was made activision must buy it from the one who owns the domain name.

Activision owns the Modern Warfare registered trademark, bro. Has since well before MW2 came out. Before the domain was registered. Nice try.

it is not covered under copyright laws since it does not include call of duty in the title so yeah activision's screwed if the guy who bought it wont sell.

The fact you're bringing up copyright law means you're not knowing what you're talking about.

(its also not protected by trademark law as activision had yet to register the name at the time the site was made.)

Registering a trademark is not relevant to it, they've claimed the trademark long ago. Perchasing a domain is irrelevant to this.

There's only two possibilities: Either Activision owns the trademark, or the website does. The website did not challenge Activision for the trademark, which means that it loses the right to claim it.

See how that works? IF you want to say you have a trademark, you HAVE to fight for it. That's the most important part of it under the law, not the registering bit.

im not gonna try and explain this to you but in the eyes of the LAW the domain name is not protected by trademark law.

No, in the eyes of the law, using a trademark in bad faith is illegal. Using a domain name in bad faith is illegal. You actually can't just take any domain name you want... you can't use it 'in bad faith' which is the crux of activision's claim.

It's illegal under trademark AND cybersquatting laws. The law doesn't stop at the registry, you know.

 

[JackWestJr]

Oh, god this is funny. Activision could just ignore this, but no, they are giving it more publicity then would have been gotten otherwise.

It IS still piontless (< on purpose) though; what kind of barbareic people are we? Who in their right mind is going to type in the URL instead of a quick Google search then click the top answer????

The same people that still use Internet Explorer - The parents that'll be paying for their kids' games.

For the first part, as has been mentioned several times, Activision can't ignore this, because trademark law states that you have to defend your trademarks, otherwise you lose them.

For my own opinion - they're well within their legal and moral rights to take action over this. The domain owner is clearly attempting to mislead visitors to the webpage, and with a URL like 'modernwarfare3', it's not even a suspicious looking address, so many people would probably have been suckered in come MW3's release.

You know what would be funny? If Activision DID lose the rights to COD! Words could not explain the pure sense of hilarity that would be pulsing through me when I found out that the guy who owns the modernwarfare3 URL now found himself in possesion of the most succesful video game franchise ever ^^

And why are people justifying this by saying "Battlefield 3 will be better"? That is actually totally irrelevant. It's like shooting somebody for being Jewish. Yes, okay, it's true that he was Jewish, but it's fairly illegal to shoot him, regardless of your motivation or the truthfulness of your excuse.

 

[Thyunda]

Oh, god this is funny. Activision could just ignore this, but no, they are giving it more publicity then would have been gotten otherwise.

It IS still piontless (< on purpose) though; what kind of barbareic people are we? Who in their right mind is going to type in the URL instead of a quick Google search then click the top answer????

The same people that still use Internet Explorer - The parents that'll be paying for their kids' games.

For the first part, as has been mentioned several times, Activision can't ignore this, because trademark law states that you have to defend your trademarks, otherwise you lose them.

For my own opinion - they're well within their legal and moral rights to take action over this. The domain owner is clearly attempting to mislead visitors to the webpage, and with a URL like 'modernwarfare3', it's not even a suspicious looking address, so many people would probably have been suckered in come MW3's release.

And why are people justifying this by saying "Battlefield 3 will be better"? That is actually totally irrelevant. It's like shooting somebody for being Jewish. Yes, okay, it's true that he was Jewish, but it's fairly illegal to shoot him, regardless of your motivation or the truthfulness of your excuse.

You know what would be funny? If Activision DID lose the rights to COD! Words could not explain the pure sense of hilarity that would be pulsing through me when I found out that the guy who owns the modernwarfare3 URL now found himself in possesion of the most succesful video game franchise ever ^^

Hmm. Well, actually, now that I think about it, that's theoretically possible. If Activision failed to defend the Modern Warfare trademark, and our friend with the website patented it, although I doubt he could get anything from the previous games in the franchise, he could easily prevent MW3 and upwards BEING Modern Warfare games...so maybe Activision will buy the trademark back from him.


Also, your post took me an offensively long time to find. I fixed it now though.

 

[JackWestJr]

Oh, god this is funny. Activision could just ignore this, but no, they are giving it more publicity then would have been gotten otherwise.

It IS still piontless (< on purpose) though; what kind of barbareic people are we? Who in their right mind is going to type in the URL instead of a quick Google search then click the top answer????

The same people that still use Internet Explorer - The parents that'll be paying for their kids' games.

For the first part, as has been mentioned several times, Activision can't ignore this, because trademark law states that you have to defend your trademarks, otherwise you lose them.

For my own opinion - they're well within their legal and moral rights to take action over this. The domain owner is clearly attempting to mislead visitors to the webpage, and with a URL like 'modernwarfare3', it's not even a suspicious looking address, so many people would probably have been suckered in come MW3's release.

I know how you feel, finding things on The Escapist's forums is nye impossible.
Funny if they lost the Modern Warfare name:

"And now, introducing the re-boot of the most revered video game franchise ever!.. Post-Modern Warfare!!!"

That would be TRIPPY! o_o

And why are people justifying this by saying "Battlefield 3 will be better"? That is actually totally irrelevant. It's like shooting somebody for being Jewish. Yes, okay, it's true that he was Jewish, but it's fairly illegal to shoot him, regardless of your motivation or the truthfulness of your excuse.

You know what would be funny? If Activision DID lose the rights to COD! Words could not explain the pure sense of hilarity that would be pulsing through me when I found out that the guy who owns the modernwarfare3 URL now found himself in possesion of the most succesful video game franchise ever ^^

Hmm. Well, actually, now that I think about it, that's theoretically possible. If Activision failed to defend the Modern Warfare trademark, and our friend with the website patented it, although I doubt he could get anything from the previous games in the franchise, he could easily prevent MW3 and upwards BEING Modern Warfare games...so maybe Activision will buy the trademark back from him.


Also, your post took me an offensively long time to find. I fixed it now though.

 

[Yureina]

As much as I don't like Activision... they are in the right in this case. Whoever took that domain and decided to use it to advertise BF3 (who for all we know might be EA itself) knew they were playing with fire.

 

[RepeatAfterMe]

If the Team Fortress 2 site started leading to Final Combat, I would be angry.