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Marvel is Suing City of Heroes!
#1
Marvel Sues 2 Cos. Over Role-Playing Game

By ALEX VEIGA

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Marvel Enterprises Inc. is suing two firms behind a computer superhero role-playing game it claims allows players to make virtual characters that are too similar to ``The Hulk,'' ``X-Men'' and other heroes in the comic book company's stable.

The lawsuit claims South Korea-based NCSoft Corp. and San Jose-based Cryptic Studios Inc. violated Marvel's trademark characters in their game ``City of Heroes.'' Marvel seeks unspecified damages and an injunction against the two companies to stop using its characters. The personal computer game enables players to design superheroes' look and abilities and then battle against other players' characters in a virtual city. Like similar so-called massively multiplayer role-playing games where thousands of players can be playing simultaneously at any given time, ``City of Heroes'' claims to offer a myriad of combinations so that no two players' characters are exactly the same.

But in its lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court, Marvel argues that the game's character creation engine easily allows players to design characters that are virtual copies of its own superheros, including ``The Incredible Hulk.'' The company singles out a game feature for creating ``a gigantic, green, 'science-based tanker'-type hero that moves and behaves nearly identically'' to the ``Hulk.'' Players can also create a ``mutant-based'' hero powers and a costume nearly identical to Marvel's ``Wolverine,'' according to the suit. The New York-based company also took issue with the ability of players to go so far as to name their superhero creations after Marvel comic book characters.

Marvel claims the firms' are responsible because the game is played on servers operated by the companies, raising the question of whether a company is responsible for their customers' actions on its computer server. Marvel also claims the companies have disrupted its ``existing and future'' business prospects for licensing its characters in video games similar to ``City of Heroes.''

An e-mail sent to NCSoft seeking comment was not immediately returned after-hours Thursday. No number was listed for Cryptic Studios. The Marvel lawsuit appears to be the first to raise this question in the scope of an online game. But early copyright infringement lawsuits brought by recording companies against pioneer file-sharing service Napster successfully argued Napster was liable for its customers' sharing of music online because they could do so only by accessing the company's computer system.

The argument can still be made that ``City of Heroes'' is only empowering users to the same degree that an establishment like Kinkos enables customers to make paper copies of copyrighted material, said Fred von Lohmann, senior intellectual property attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. ``Is it a violation of copyright to make up a character in the virtual world or is that fair use?'' von Lohmann said. ``This is really untested ground in the courts.''

11/11/04 22:34
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#2
Not surprising in the least bit. Considering how they went after Sim skinners who were making Marvel skins (a real shame since I lost my Tigra and She-Hulk skins in a system wipe) I knew it would only be a matter of time before Marvel went after CoH. The amazing thing to me is....DC seems perfectly kosher with letting the likenesses of their characters get used in such games, as did Crossgen and other comic companies. Marvel is quickly making itself out to be the big bad bully of the comics world.

Truely a shame. Because I really loved that Tigra skin!! I mean, she had the stripes and tail and appropriate swimsuit and sleeping attire and everything!!!

Stupid Marvel.....
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#3
Yeah,now Marvel is turning into Todd McFarlane!

Bunch of pansies!


As an avid player of COH,I have some thoughts on this.......

First of all,
I have seen hundreds upon hundreds of copyrighted characters in COH,and yes most are Marvel,but not all. I have seen DC,WWE,former Presidents,Bands and even the Ambiguously Gay Duo(the wonder twins were my fave Big Grin )
Now making a character look like an established hero is not hard to do with the great hero creator the game has,but that is just a tool for the user to use,and not Cryptics fault.
They do have some very obvious problems though,mainly Wolverine.
You can make a character in the game that not only looks like Wolverine but also has the following......
Claws Primary Powerset-This power is totally messed up,it actually features animations of your guy flinging his arms down and releasing 3 claws from the top of each hand :roll: Then on top of that as a Scrapper he would also have acsess to the best secondary power set in the game,Regeneration! He can also be of "Mutant" origin(actual in game name).

You now have....
Origin-Mutant
Archetype-Scrapper
Primary Powerset-Claws(three popping claws from each hand)
Secondary Powerset-Regeneration(It is exactly like a fast healing factor)

Well,you haven't even gotten to the actual look yet and it already is Wolverine!

That is the biggest legal issue I see in all this,it does get WAY too close to a specific copyrighted character. And I think that a simple change to the animation would quickly solve that problem. Maybe cat-like claws,as that is more generic.

The other thing that I agree needs to be done is to implement a very good name filter for the hero creator.No more Super-Man,Superman1,Sue Perman,Souperman etc etc.

In all the time I've been playing this game I've never seen any enforcement of the "rules". Copycat guys are in every zone and at every level,but I'm sure it is hard to enforce 200,000 players,but I sure as heck bet that I will soon start seeing it be heavily enforced. Big Grin
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