Blizzard Challenges Valve Over DOTA Trademark.

[Dendio]

"[We feel] a little bit of confusion, to be honest. Certainly, DOTA came out of the Blizzard community... It just seems a really strange move to us that Valve would go off and try to exclusively trademark the term considering it's something that's been freely available to us and everyone in the Warcraft III community up to this point."

"Valve is usually so pro mod community. It's such a community company that it just seems like a really strange move to us... I really don't understand why [they would do it], to be honest."

Blizz has refrained from attempting to trade mark dota for years. They released these statements about keeping it open to the community. Valve is trying to copyright. Icefrog is not the sole owner of dota. Other dota devs have launched suits against valve and stated they dont want to have the name trademarked. I cant help but to side with blizz here

 

[Fappy]

I would say Valve is in the wrong, but my bullshit meter is going haywire when I remember a Blizz executive being quoted as saying that the two companies had a good relationship and they were not concerned about them using the name DOTA. Blizzard missed their chance imo.

If it were up to me neither developer should join the MOBA scene. I tried the Dota 2 beta and it was simply awful. Blizzard's attempt looks even worse.

 

[darkonnis]

This is kinda weird. Cause when Valve first announced theyd be making a DoTA 2, Blizzard was fine with it. Honestly I think theyd be more right to sue them over the character design, cause a lot of them are just straight ports of the ones from DoTA, whose models were those of WC3 and belong to Blizzard.

Yeah but I think they (valve) would take a hit on damages but this is a no win really for either. HoN is already there, already has a very competitive player base(full of elitism like DoTa who'd of thunk it)and has very well paid tournaments. League of legends is the game by the developers of Dota, so the fact blizzard is making their own, bit sad really, figured they may have left them and HoN to it. I very much doubt that Blizzard will successfully join that market, nothing against their ability, however the people who made dota and continue to make their follow on, do a very good job. Short of hiring them (not sure if they have, which is why i mention this) I think they'd only really have something to offer people who had starcraft 2 and didn't want to DL another game... Seeing as both alternatives are free to play.

The HoN master race sits backs and enjoys the chaos. Mwahahahaha.

IceFrog made Dota? Please fuck off. He just maintained it (poorly) and stole idea's from the non-Allstar games. Dude was a hack and still is.

IceFrog made what was a poorly designed mess (with potential) into the relatively well balanced machine DotA is now.

Yeah i'd second that, dude did good.

 

[mxfox408]

Well there may be a clause in blizzards EULA meaning they cannot attempt to market the mods that where created using thier tools and since dota was created using thier tools, it was therefore associated with Warcraft III giving blizzard the advantage in court.

 

[GoaThief]

Other dota devs have launched suits against valve and stated they dont want to have the name trademarked.

Links, please.

The years-old Blizzard comments concerning trademarking/copyrighting DotA would be cool too.

 

[cdstephens]

The rights to the name should belong to Icefrog since development was handed off to him, and also other Dota developers as well.

 

[Krois]

Not following all these DotA lore so I might be mistaken but I thought IceFrog isn't the actual creator of DotA or the genre (?); but just some person in-charged at one point when it started becoming popular.

Although Valve could've just as easily name it something else other than using the word DotA and still get its players simply because IceFrog is there which is what all DotA-fan are hype about anyway. That's what HoN and LoL did isn't it? Calling it DotA2 is just an attempt to make sure people know it is the successor of DotA.

Still, out of personal preference and grudge, I'd love and wish Blizzard to win because I being a fanboy of it and Valve banned my account mistakenly saying I cheated in a game but I didn't but they refuse to unban it when I mailed them. That accusation and wasting my money don't sit well with me.

 

[Njaard]

The people saying that DotA should remain with the community obviously don't know the DotA community. It's almost an unanimous approval for what Valve and IceFrog are doing.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

I'm surprised it's taken them this long.

I think Valve are in the wrong this time. DOTA is a Warcraft mod, and has no link to anything Valve has ever originated. If anyone has a claim on the name it's Blizzard.

Or the original creators of the mod, not Blizzard themselves.

However, since they decide NOT to work with Valve, Valve has even less claim on it than Blizzard. I also honestly thought the "Blizzard Dota" was one of their April Fool's joke, I guess I was mistaken.

 

[Weaver]

Legally, the person who created a work own's its IP even if they didn't trademark the work. As such, only Eul and Guinsoo (who, hilariously enough, works at Riot Games (League of Legends) ) can claim the copyright to the work.

If they don't contest valve, I don't see why Blizz can. Unless there is a clause in the map editor which states they own everything anyone makes in it.

IceFrog works at Valve now (on DOTA2) but he started modding it in 2005; 2 years after Eul's original inception of the game, and his work was just a refinement of the large strides Guinsoo made in turning DOTA into what we know today.

 

[Njaard]

Legally, the person who created a work own's its IP even if they didn't trademark the work. As such, only Eul and Guinsoo (who, hilariously enough, works at Riot Games (League of Legends) ) can claim the copyright to the work.

If they don't contest valve, I don't see why Blizz can. Unless there is a clause in the map editor which states they own everything anyone makes in it.

IceFrog works at Valve now (on DOTA2) but he started modding it in 2005; 2 years after Eul's original inception of the game, and his work was just a refinement of the large strides Guinsoo made in turning DOTA into what we know today.

Eul is allegedly working at Valve, too.

 

[Weaver]

Legally, the person who created a work own's its IP even if they didn't trademark the work. As such, only Eul and Guinsoo (who, hilariously enough, works at Riot Games (League of Legends) ) can claim the copyright to the work.

If they don't contest valve, I don't see why Blizz can. Unless there is a clause in the map editor which states they own everything anyone makes in it.

IceFrog works at Valve now (on DOTA2) but he started modding it in 2005; 2 years after Eul's original inception of the game, and his work was just a refinement of the large strides Guinsoo made in turning DOTA into what we know today.

Eul is allegedly working at Valve, too.

If that's true this is probably going to be a short case.