Blizzard: Valve Shouldn't Trademark DotA

[prump1]

wht is wrong with people here, they dont understand that their thinking inside the box, they may have trademarked defense of the ancients, but they will never trademark dota since its owned by the community, when i hear the word dota i dont think defence of the ancients, i think DOTA, an awesome game genre CREATED by the COMMUNITY, not a single game from warcraft 3, i think of allstars, league of legends, heroes of newerth and many more, were not losing anything, an even when talking about it in the perspective that they are stealing a classic for money, imagine this, these are one of the most competent and creative game developers out there, this ensures a full retail game instead of a mediocre game made by some indie company like the original dota, they may be a little more creative, but when the idea is already out their we want quality, since the idea is already fully devenloped and out there, this is a step forward for the concept of dota, a classic may be stolen, but its reforged into something good, now its ensured to live on instead of dying in mediocrity, this will mean dota might even become one of the most played game out there with cod and css, since valve will be doing this then it will get full advertisement from steam and alot more, this is a good things guys, dont ruin it.

 

[Ghengis John]

If your argument was anything more than some angry anti-fanboyism towards Blizzard you would realize the DotA game type became huge before Valve made a push at it. If Blizzard only want DotA to be free if it is on a DotA game they would have copyrighted the DotA name as soon as HoN and LoL came out.

Secondly, and more importantly, it was made by the WC3 community, for the WC3 community. Even if the whole DotA team was working on DotA team, DotA is no longer their name and they should respect their fans enough to realize that.

Your argument is soley based on the ridiculous fanboy notion that people who consume something they don't pay for somehow own it. If loving something were the only requirement for ownership George Lucas would have been jailed long ago and Han Solo would be restored to his murderous glory. I don't think you're a bad guy, you clearly have your heart in the right place. It just doesn't work that way in reality.

 

[Wedlock49]

well it sounds less that they think it should remain free and more like Blizzard want it.
They keep talking about it being available to the "blizzard community" etc.
Valve have Icefrog and it was his idea to get the trademark and make dota 2.
And icefrog is the authority when it comes to Dota, since he did most of the work. Blizz has no say in this since none of their employees were even part of the development process.

Somehow I can't see myself believing Blizzards mentioning this out of love for the community. Feels like an attempt at a "be the good guy" stunt to me.

... though I was a little curious about Valve and the whole trademarking DotA, all things considered (community focused project, etc...)

They seem to be doing the same thing they did with counter strike and Tf and portal.
They hire the modteam and trademark it.
Counter strike was a mod once too. And now valve owns the devs and trademark.

knowing now that someone who had a big part in the creation of DoTA on Valves side and makes a lot more sense. With this adding context to the move I would fully support them in the decision. Valve have always supported modders and I doubt they would be faicist with the trademarked property.

Sounds to me like Blizzard are just pissed because they dropped the ball.

 

[Wicky_42]

...Blizzard could have trademarked the dota name, then made D3, then made the next 2 SC2's, then a new MMO, then probably warcraft 4, THEN made DOTA 2, release date 2020...
...

Ironic attitude, what with Blizzard bringing out the free DotA map shortly, compared to Valve's legendary timescale

They didn't want to trademark the name because it was made by the community; no-one owned the name, it was common domain. I don't think Valve's right doing this, as much as I love them.

 

[GoGo_Boy]

Yosharian please shut up. You spread so much random nonsense it hurts me.

Blizzard did support DotA a fucking lot. There was once a bug discovered within the way the JASS code works which required a certain fix which made a lot maps unplayable. Including DotA.

So when they put up the new Patch they made the DotA map got a special treatment whenever hosted, so that it ran with the old patch and people could continue playing this. So they needn't wait for IceFrog readjusting stuff in his map script which took quite a while.

But hey what do you know, you see like some random hater anyways.

 

[Exort]

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.

Agree. As the mod is the work of the community, I dont feel its morally right for Valve to trademark it. I mean, they could make a DOTA game without calling it dota? :|

Are there any laws in place to protect the creative work of communities without the funding of valve/blizz available?

Creative work protection doesn't really "exist". However if Valve only trademark DotA: Allstar I would be fine with it as long riot games (the real creator of DotA: Allstar works there) agrees. But DotA? The creator of DotA never mind fan version like DotA: allstar or DotA: outland, I don't think he want to see people taking that concept for their own profit in the name of DotA.

 

[Vhite]

FYI Valve is not planning on 'selling' DOTA2.

Then why would they copyright it? Let them make the game but they have absolutly no right for copyrighting it even if they have one person from dev team.

 

[Arawn.Chernobog]

Presenting the upcoming SC2 mod

 

[AngryMongoose]

*snip*

Why does it have to be "DotA". HoN have done exactly what Valve are doing now; taken the original version and copied it, right down to character balance, into its own stand-alone game. But they didn't claim to own DotA. Valve can make their own MOBA; they can make it DotA right down to engine bugs that became part of the gameplay, but Blizzard and Guinsoo don't want them to take DotA itself away from the Warcraft 3 community and claim that it belongs to them.


To all the people here who say "Blizzard just wish they'd trademakred it first": do you really believe that? At what point did they look like they wanted to take the game from their community? They're just taking issue with Valve trying to take it themselves.

Do you really feel that DotA should be free for the first person who grabs and with a trademark? It belonged to the Warcraft 3 community. It was handed down between developers and developed as a community project (Using Blizzards assets). It someone like IO Interactive or Tim Langdell had come along and trademarked the name, it'd be clear who was in the wrong, and it was pretty much Blizzards duty to their community to protect it.

 

[binvjoh]

Why the fuck are people claiming Valve is releasing DotA 2 for free and Blizzard gonna make us pay for their DotA version when just YESTERDAY Blizzard announced 4 Blizzard-made mods, one including DotA Blizzard that'll be constantly developed and... guess what
everything FOR FREE.

So stop spouting random, wrong facts.

Oh and woah, Valve managed to balance some basic FPS games... congrats. While that indeed is an achievement compared to the usual incredible low development standard, it's still a joke compared to what Starcraft, Diablo and Warcraft is.

You sound a bit biased. Just saying.

 

[Crasha]

wht is wrong with people here, they dont understand that their thinking inside the box, they may have trademarked defense of the ancients, but they will never trademark dota etc etc

You sir, are wrong. They did not trademark 'Defense of the Ancients' they specifically trademarked the work 'DotA'.

source: http://www.dota-blog.com/2010/08/valve-filled-dota-trademark.html

 

[bob1052]

If your argument was anything more than some angry anti-fanboyism towards Blizzard you would realize the DotA game type became huge before Valve made a push at it. If Blizzard only want DotA to be free if it is on a DotA game they would have copyrighted the DotA name as soon as HoN and LoL came out.

Secondly, and more importantly, it was made by the WC3 community, for the WC3 community. Even if the whole DotA team was working on DotA team, DotA is no longer their name and they should respect their fans enough to realize that.

Your argument is soley based on the ridiculous fanboy notion that people who consume something they don't pay for somehow own it. If loving something were the only requirement for ownership George Lucas would have been jailed long ago and Han Solo would be restored to his murderous glory. I don't think you're a bad guy, you clearly have your heart in the right place. It just doesn't work that way in reality.

Your argument is soley based on the ridiculous anti-fanboy notion that Blizzard who supports community mods, who had the opportunity to trademark DotA a long time ago (and plenty of reasons to), are saying this because they apparently want the trademark for themselves.

I could add a meaningless example but I'll just explain why your example is completely idiotic.

What if George Lucas never made Star Wars, but instead made something else big. Then the fanbase of whatever he made created Star Wars. The community embraced Star Wars. Then George Lucas tried to take over Star Wars and call it his own.

 

[bob1052]

Presenting the upcoming SC2 mod

Reading threads instead of posting the exact same post that was already made is always a good idea.

 

[JerrytheBullfrog]

Based on your other posts, you're either a fervent Blizzard fan or just a trolling ass. You can't call people fanboys when all you do is insult and hate on people that don't love Blizzard.

Furthermore, DotA wasn't made by the "Blizzard Community". It was played by and slightly modded by a part of the community. The game/mod itself was made by a small handful of people, one of whom (that being IceFrog, who was basically handed the franchise by the other two creators after they left to pursue other projects) now works at Valve. Frankly, it's within Valve's right to trademark the name. The only reason people like you are bitching is because you somehow think you'll have to buy the game and won't be able to mod it. Clearly, you've not really read up on the topic. The game is likely going to be free, just as Alien Swarm was. It will allow (and provide support for) any and all modders within the community. Just as they've done with Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead. And, just like all of Valve's games, it will receive frequent, free updates and content. Blizzard does the same, mostly, but unlike Valve, they usually charge for any large content update. (I point you to World of Warcraft, specifically) Now that's disgusting.

This all comes down to a community assuming it owns a game. It'd be like if the Team Fortress 2 community decided Valve has no right to own the brand or do anything with it because it's "theirs". The community plays it, so clearly it must belong to the community! Self-entitled whiners ruin everything, I swear. This whole fiasco is as bad as the whole Left 4 Dead 2 boycott. (if not worse, since it's not just a whiny bunch of kids but an high-profile company doing the whining)

I hate ignorance, plain and simple. And most of the people bitching about Blizzard are ignorant. Like, Blizzard charges for large content patches for WoW? Really? If you mean the subscription that goes toward the hundreds of thousands of dollars in physical maintenance every day, sure. But I didn't pay a cent for the 5GB patch I just downloaded earlier this month.

*ONE GUY* who happened to work on DotA doesn't have the rights, especially when it was made by other people and the fans contributed so much to the game.

I haven't heard anything about DotA 2 being free, and with Valve's obscene MannCo shop I really doubt it will be. Especially not if they're going to actively update it.

But to the point, when has Blizzard been "whining" about something? They were asked a question about something that is bullshit, and they correctly called it bullshit. Blizzard didn't sue Valve, Blizzard didn't release a statement when Valve announced DotA 2, Blizzard answered a question.

Im pretty sure those arent three different genres. Blizzard stick to the same formula. Im hoping when valve get DoTa they can mix it up a bit and improve on the experience the mod team originally made. Blizzard doesnt really have any force in the matter. Yes their mod tools helped created the original mod, but thats where it stopped.

Anyway, im not a fanboy for any of the companys, im just calling it how I see it.

How are a RTS, a MMORPG, and an action RPG not three different genres?

 

[Delusibeta]

The big glowing problem is thus: Valve is not trademarking Defence of the Ancients. It is trademarking DOTA. Not DotA, not Defence of the Ancients, but DOTA.

Honestly? It's like iD complaining about Valve taking Team Fortress from their community to make Team Fortress 2.

 

[Ghengis John]

I never recall they said things like "They didn't "want it to be free""

I never recall saying that either. I said they simply didn't care about it's existence. Which is a far different matter then implying they wanted people to pay for it. If they wanted it to remain free forever, they made no such statement of that intention in the past, and this is what I was referring to. The next sentence over makes that painfully obvious. I forgive you, understanding that our public schools are suffering. I hope reading comprehension protects you from such an embarrassing mishap in the future.

 

[JerrytheBullfrog]

Blizzard "Dammit, we didn't get the copyright first, hey Valve, not cool".

EXACTLY

...NOT
Have you read any of that?

Blizzard are crying because they didn't get the copyright early on, and now they never will. This is about making money. If you think there are principles involved, you are massively ignorant about the way Blizzard works.

Making money... off a map mod they're releasing for free?

lol, what?

 

[Kiroth]

DotA isn't exactly something that should be trademarked by anyone except maybe the person who made the mod. If nothing else they should do what Heroes of Newerth did, give it a new name.

 

[Exort]

Since CS and DoD both started out as mods for HL and then Valve hired the guys who made them then trademarked the names I think they are quite within their rights to Trademark DotA as they hired the guy who originally created the mod and he now heads up the Dev team responsible for DotA 2.

Blizzard should have hired him first and then there would be no dispute.

Just my 2 cents

Blizzard don't want to make profit from it, why hire him. (BlizzardotA is free map)

Also IceFrog didn't create DotA or DotA: Allstar, he just the guy updating it now.

The Problem I have is they are trying to trademark DotA, not DotA: Allstar. People that never played it might think they are the same but no they are not. DotA is like a concept, a genre now. DotA: Allstar is a game. The real maker of DotA or AoS is gone, and no one know who he really is. DotA: Allstar is a fan made version of DotA. Later became the biggest of all fan made DotA.

Also the concept of DotA-like map is first in AoS(SC map). That is the map that started it all. DotA is like AoS on WC3.

Copyright DotA is like copyright First person shooter, and copyright DotA: Allstar is like copyright Half life.

 

[JerrytheBullfrog]

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.

Which is why they updated the WC3 editor quite a few times to make DotA type games easier...

They are only saying that no-one should get the copyright because they have realised that they missed the boat. It's a PR ploy.

They have no principles. We are talking about the company that makes World Of Warcraft. Principles do not exist for this company.

Okay, nevermind. Now I just know you're being ridiculous and petty. "Principles do not exist for this company" because they made WoW? What a joke.