Blizzard: Valve Shouldn't Trademark DotA

[samsonguy920]

I agree with Blizz on this, and frankly this is a bad sign for Valve to be doing this.
This is a mark against your coolness factor, Valve. Don't make me lose faith in you.

Faith in Valve? Considering the HL2EP3 fiasco who still has faith in that company

What fiasco is that? That Valve isn't taking the time from their busy schedule to pander to your personal needs to know every detail of progress on the game?
HL2EP3 hasn't entered DNF territory YET. No reason to get tunnel vision on a game that will eventually come out, spoiling your enjoyment of what else is being produced by separate teams.

 

[SpAc3man]

Valve got to it first. Blizzard has had plenty of opportunity to cash in on Dota or even just file the trademark to protect it while still allowing free use of it by the Dota creators.

Pretty much the same thing happened with Alien Swarm. Original was a Unreal Tournament 2004 mod and Valve hired the team responsible and got them to make a new one on the Source engine.

Valve is well known for spotting opportunities like this and they have done extremely well with it in the past. CS, TF and DoD all started as third party mods with Valve acquiring them to turn into proper games. Whats to stop them doing the same with mods that are for games other than their own by bringing them over to their own engine?

 

[Arcticflame]

but this one is true.
http://www.dota-allstars.com/index.html
It is by Pendragon. If you play DotA: Allstar you should know who he is.
By the way that url is the old Offical DotA: Allstar website before Icefrog left and made his own.

Pendragon said:
So Icefrog already tried to sell DotA to many companys before,
and He successfully sold DotA to both S2 games and Valve.

Fact:
and he isn't even the creator of DotA or DotA: Allstar.

I don't see where this is morally bankrupt. I don't have a problem with any of what was mentioned in this.

A trademark is not a copyright by the way, people seem to be equating it as such. A trademark is to protect the name DotA. Basically you can still create a game with the same formula as dota, and legally it's fine. But however I would be in trouble if I made a game which was nothing like DotA, but named it DotA.

 

[Irishhoodlum]

Almost no one played DotA before Icefrog took over. And since he did, when was the last time a competitive match was played on a version that wasn't created by him? It hasn't been a community developed game in years. Yeah I wonder who deserves it.

Pendragon and Guinsoo who are challenging Valve's claim aren't doing it because they care about the community. They want to block potential threats to League of Legends. Going out on a limb and saying that's what Blizzard is doing for their game.

Really though I'd support them if DotA2 goes in the same direction as TF2 with Microtransactions.

 

[Mortons4ck]

Valve trademarked DotA so that Blizzard wouldn't give them shit for making DotA 2.

I don't necessarily see Valve sending cease and desist for the Blizzard mod in the future.

However, given Bobby-boy's track record, Valve not trademarking DotA and leaving it as public domain would invariably lead to Activision trademarking it and sending a cease and desist to Valve, or Activision leveraging a damages suit against Valve for making DotA 2, or Activision attempting to extort money out of Valve for a licensing deal (a la Tim Langdell).

 

[DPunch4]

if valve remakes dota then maybe it wont suck. footmen was my game, beating the creator(who had bloody cheats) was a good day for my little sky clan. being second top gun was fun, but now i don't have a nice computer, so ill be sticking to consoles for a while. uni keeps my money busy... and rent.

hmmm please don't judge my grammar, I've been having social drinks with family all day and am quite inebriated. (I just corrected 8 spelling mistakes)

 

[Alleged_Alec]

I agree with Blizzard here, but for a different reason. If DOTA is indeed copyrighted, don't they have the right to prevent other companies from updating their DotA clones?

 

[chozo_hybrid]

Whoop de do? It's just the name, change it to something else, it doesn't affect the game itself.

Humans put a phenomenal amount of importance into names.

To say "It is just a name" is akin to saying "It's just your arm, you have another."

And before anyone takes that literal, no losing your name is not the same as having your arm ripped off your torso, don't be a cock. The point is that names are valued extremely highly, just like ones own appendages. (Indeed I'd be pretty upset if I lost my own name, I've gotten quite used to it).

If they cared about it, they would have trademarked it earlier, I get what you mean and agree. But I think this is having a bigger deal made of it then needs be.

 

[Versabane]

DotA has become the name of a sub-genre, and should not be copyrighted.
If i exaggerate a bit, it would be like me copyrighting the names "california" or "Ice cream", "FPS", "RTS". So that other people can not use them.

Also: Don't feed the troll Blizzard.

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

They didn't "want it to be free". And the community owns nothing. That's just your idealism. They simply didn't care about it's existence so long as it propped up other blizzard properties, which made it a non-entity to them. They're cawing now because it's suddenly become a threat not because they care about you the player or any modder's rights.

Wait? My Idealism?

... ummm ... no?

If it were up to my ideals then the owners of DotA would have control over their project, however how it actually is is that they have no rights to their project whatsoever.

Also you're acting like Blizzard are taking action... they simply said Valve should not trademark the name. Which they shouldn't.

They never said anything about League of Legends and Heroes of Newerth.. so your point is moot, if they cared about losing DotA customers then they would have trademarked the name and shut down those projects.

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

Blizzard do not care about DotA being a free title for anyone to use. They only care about who gets to make money off it. They never supported DotA, ever. Now hopefully it will take off massively with Valve's support.

Because they left it to the original creators.

If Blizzard starting trying to support DotA itself it would have to take control of the project.

Also your point about money is completely moot. If Blizzard really wanted to make all the money off of DotA they would have trademarked the name and shut down League of Legends and Heroes of Newerth.

But they didn't!

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

I realize this. But I fear that most of the people complaining are themselves missing a few details. Just because a company owns the rights to a game's brand name does NOT mean they'll instantly put a stop to all mods for it. Take a look at Counter-Strike, Team Fortress, and Left 4 Dead. Valve not only allows mods to spring up but friggin' SUPPORTS them. Hell, they even add some of the better mods into official releases and updates. My point is, people are afraid that the "community" won't be able to contribute, add to, or mod DotA 2. If anyone had bothered to read Valve's announcement, they'd immediately realize that DotA 2 is being designed with contributing and modding in mind. The whole basis of Valve's version of the game is to create a friendlier, more open community for a game that desperately needs it. Let's face it, DotA at this point only really caters to those that are hardcore players of the game. New players really don't stand a chance and are often reviled and met with fervent hatred. Valve plans to rectify that. If that means they have to copyright the name, I'm all for it. I'd say the same if Blizzard had decided to do it. I just feel like it's better to have a professional company make the core product first, and have the community contribute and modify it afterward.

[edit] I'll be honest though. I'm not really concerned. I was never a big fan of Dota. Maybe it's because of the community, I don't know. All I know is, this whole thing is getting out of hand and misinformation is more abundant than the truth. From all parties involved. So, until this thing simmers down, I'm just not going to care.

Maybe if you think some people are afraid of that. I'm fully aware people will be able to mod Valves DotA.

What I don't want is Valve being able to shut down future DotA mods for other games, if they own a trademark then they could do that.

The way DotA is set up generally caters to people who have put the time in. I'm not sure how Valves DotA could change that but whatever I'll give them the benefit of the doubt there.

I just don't want them holding a trademark -.- They can go create a DotA for all I care, just don't trademark it.

 

[fKd]

think about this, valve started paying the guy who was like the longest running guy from the team once everyone else went off to do other projects. now this guy who worked for hundreds of hours for free is now getting a pay check and a team of the industries best to help put together a aaa game from an amazing company with an even better distribution method. its called supporting the community. (of modders) blizzard had a long time to pick this up and give the team a job... but left em thinking they could get the work done for free. cheers valve for supporting dedicated mod developers, just like cs, tf alien swarm etc etc etc.

but dont get me wrong, i've loved blizzard games for a long time. but how valve pick up and nurture modders is fantastic imo, as a mapper myself im proud that some companies out there are still supporting the mod community...

as for the price issue... steam have sales all the time (just got l4d and l4d2 for like 10 bucks!) or they release multiple games in box sets. lets look at the orange box.. portal,tf2 and episode 1 & 2. for like the price of an expansion. no one else does such cheap and high quality products with great follow up support, no one. end of argument

before you call fanboy, im old enough to have played blizzard games from the beginning warcraft 1-3, starcraft, diablo 1 & 2 (so much 2) wow (only a little due to having issues with the constant paying to play) im a big fan of their work... but their new business model of making the fans constantly pay has worn thin (lol BUY A PASS TO WATCH STREAMED EVENTS FROM BLIZZCON! how about no? ill keep my money thanks) the amount of cash generated from this company is excessive, yet everything costs so damned much! your wow monthly fee should be enough without having to buy the expansions... you should want the fans to watch steams of your events! not try make a quick buck off em, the list goes on. /rant

 

[Rayansaki]

Just a small detail: Valve is filing for Dota, not defense of the ancients. Its like if epic filed for GoW3, which could be short for Gears of War 3 but also God of War 3, or another unused term.

No game was ever called Dota, so Valve is in their right to file for its trademark.

 

[Sgt Doom]

It's probably to prevent unscrupulous companies fucking around with Valve's stuff and other such exploits. I doubt that Valve are going to go whacking your average gamer who uses the name and such with a cease and desist order.

 

[Delusibeta]

Just a small detail: Valve is filing for Dota, not defense of the ancients. Its like if epic filed for GoW3, which could be short for Gears of War 3 but also God of War 3, or another unused term.

No game was ever called Dota, so Valve is in their right to file for its trademark.

Exactly my point. Honestly? Blizzard is arguing schematics, and there really shouldn't be any problem with it. Mods can continue to come out being called Defence of the Ancients (unless Riot Games trademarks that), and Valve isn't exactly the sort to send out cease and desists (Activision, on the other hand...)

 

[mooncalf]

I don't think the Blizzard have any right to get upset about another company picking up the DotA creator's talent, I mean they could have done that already, but rather what they appear to be doing, is saying that the mod has a spiritual home in their commmunity, which somehow gives them a right to capitalise on it without Icefrog's involvement. <- Bad Blizzard.

On the other hand Valve are digging a legal trench with a shovel they lifted from someone elses shed and it just looks improper. <- Bad Valve...

 

[Azmael Silverlance]

Nobody should own the name....blizzard never planned on doing it...why would valve make a move now?
ITs a community thing and i really agree with the creators! Also if anbody has the right to trademark it that would be blizzard...other parties just dont make sense!

 

[TilMorrow]

If they own the name DOTA2 and release it for free like Alien Swarm then everything is cool with me. If they try to sell it, Im with Blizzard.