Two of the most successful PC developers of all time have gone to war over the use of the term DOTA (Defence of the Ancients).
To make things worse for the WarCraft developer, Valve moved to try and trademark the word "DOTA", despite the fact it has no historical connection to the name - or even the game's genre.
Standing before the US Patent and Trademark Office's Trial and Appeal Board, Blizzard argued that giving Valve the DOTA name would not only damage it, "but also the legions of Blizzard fans".
As for Valve, this is what Blizzard had to say about the Half-Life dev:
"In contrast to Blizzard, Applicant Valve Corporation ("Valve") has never used the mark DOTA in connection with any product or service that currently is available to the public.
"By attempting to register the mark DOTA, Valve seeks to appropriate the more than seven years of goodwill that Blizzard has developed in the mark DOTA and in its Warcraft III computer game and take for itself a name that has come to signify the product of years of time and energy expended by Blizzard and by fans of Warcraft III. Valve has no right to the registration it seeks.
"If such registration is issued, it not only will damage Blizzard, but also the legions of Blizzard fans that have worked for years with Blizzard and its products, including by causing consumers to falsely believe that Valve's products are affiliated, sponsored or endorsed by Blizzard and are related or connected to Warcraft III."
Blizzard claims that, because the original DOTA required WarCraft III to play, it's got a better case for a trademark than Valve.
There's only one way to solve this...
Comments
12 comments so far...
Denther on 10 Feb '12 said:
Naked mud wrestle
lostimage on 10 Feb '12 said:
MORTAL KOMBAT!!!
brookie_2001 on 10 Feb '12 said:
Cancel DOTA and make Half-Life 3?
Legendeer on 10 Feb '12 said:
Because it took so much effort to let a Mod for your game happen......
Blizzard are just bitter and it is this that destroyed the chance of an equally good modding community for SC2, by effectively saying that by publishing a SC2 mod, the IP is blizzard's.
It'll stop this happening again, but there will also be no Mods of this quality again
darry on 10 Feb '12 said:
Court case!
Right guys?
Guys?
CriticalAndy on 10 Feb '12 said:
In Valve we trust. Blizzard could have trademarked 'DOTA' years ago but did'nt think it was a profitable venture now the ideas worth a buck load they suddenly care. Also Blizzard are in bed with activision basically making them worse than satan worshipers.
kmcroc on 10 Feb '12 said:
GO blizzard ,the hell w/ Valve.
MrStillwater on 10 Feb '12 said:
Yep, this pretty much sums it up. Hard to have any sympathy for Blizzard here.
MPH on 10 Feb '12 said:
Do Blizzard own the rights to any user created mods? If not I don't see what they can do, especially if one of the guys that created the mod is now in bed with Valve.
Sangor on 10 Feb '12 said:
The only people who deserve a say in this are the original mod creators.
sulli456 on 10 Feb '12 said:
Bit late now isn't it, Valve have already marketed, had competetions and BETAs for DOTA 2 why has it taken this long for it all to get to this stage. For Valve to have to change the name now would be a stupid. Blizzard could have taken on DOTA when it was created but Valve got in there first and now there is the hint of money, we had the original game that the game was concieved on.
The mod creator can choose who wins. And it should be Valve for doing stuff for the modders, CS was originally a mod and valve took it on, if they see potential they give the people the credit.
Imaduck on 11 Feb '12 said:
Ah come on you 2 play nice! Share! You both have more than enough and are dearly beloved, probably the 2 most loved western studios.