The Generic Bat....

[GenericHero05]

For almost 2 years, I had a Dual Pistols/Device Blaster named Rick Grimes and had him done up in a brown police uniform with a cowboy had. Never had any issues.

[doc7924]

Did a little digging around and it seems that I misremembered the case a little bit; Marvel weren't suing over hero one and Statesman, they were suing over an even more ridiculous reason.
The fact that you can create Marvel look alike's in city of Heroes. No, really. They actually tried to sue over the fact that you can create characters with green skin and purple shorts.

http://www.out-law.com/page-5381
http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=460240
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/marvel-sues-ncsoft-over-city-of-heroes/1100-6113055/
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-11-11-marvel-sues-over-avatars_x.htm

Oh it was much more fun then that. And those of us that were playing then had a real scare that the game might have actually been shut off, at least while the trial was active.

I have the PDFs some place on my PC as the complaints were in public record but Marvel claimed in the suit that they:

a) invented super-heroes and b) invented mutants.

Now as for the first one - not even DC can claim they created 'super-heroes' as they have been around since the time of the Greeks. And I am sure Darwin would have something to say about someone claiming to have invented mutants.

Besides that, like 98% of the Marvel clone screenshots given in evidence were created by Marvel employees that subscribed to the game for the sole purpose of making Marvel characters to show the judge that people were using their copyrighted characters.

Then after ALL that - Marvel goes to Cryptic to make a deal for them to work on Marvel's own MMO.

[Vee]

For almost 2 years, I had a Dual Pistols/Device Blaster named Rick Grimes and had him done up in a brown police uniform with a cowboy had. Never had any issues.

I'd have to insist that that toon pass the star or i'd be out.

[Floride]

I have the PDFs some place on my PC as the complaints were in public record but Marvel claimed in the suit that they:

a) invented super-heroes and b) invented mutants.

They're all here. Including the exhibits that got tossed because Marvel actually logged into the game to commit the trademark infringements themselves. It's a fun read!

https://www.eff.org/cases/marvel-v-ncsoft

[Paragon Avenger]

I was totally surprised that I was able to run Lemmy Kilmister, Jr. all the way to 50 without so much as a visit from Motorhead.

I was also surprised that The Increbidle Hulk got belted into left field with that bat.

I also created a rip-off of Flower Knight and of Kalinda, but they wouldn't care about those.  They just want to be not sued, cowards.

[doc7924]

They're all here. Including the exhibits that got tossed because Marvel actually logged into the game to commit the trademark infringements themselves. It's a fun read!

https://www.eff.org/cases/marvel-v-ncsoft

Not to take Marvel's side but if they put claws and regeneration as powers in the game, did they not think that people would make copies of you know who?

I think it was one of the reasons they didn't work on shields for the first few years.

[Vee]

As far as i know musicians' names aren't copyright protected, so no surprise on any of those mentioned not getting the bat.

[cohRock]

My wife got generic'd for a character she'd been playing for years inspired by Raggedy Ann's look. She was less than pleased.

Your wife was clearly in the right.  She should have petitioned the judgement using public domain as a defense.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raggedy_Ann

The doll itself was patented in 1915, and the first book published in 1918.  Both IP protections expired years ago.

[Blackout]

Oh it was much more fun then that. And those of us that were playing then had a real scare that the game might have actually been shut off, at least while the trial was active.

I have the PDFs some place on my PC as the complaints were in public record but Marvel claimed in the suit that they:

a) invented super-heroes and b) invented mutants.

Now as for the first one - not even DC can claim they created 'super-heroes' as they have been around since the time of the Greeks. And I am sure Darwin would have something to say about someone claiming to have invented mutants.

Besides that, like 98% of the Marvel clone screenshots given in evidence were created by Marvel employees that subscribed to the game for the sole purpose of making Marvel characters to show the judge that people were using their copyrighted characters.

Then after ALL that - Marvel goes to Cryptic to make a deal for them to work on Marvel's own MMO.

That is beautiful in how horrifyingly hilarious it is. I was playing back in 2005 as well but due to my status as a tiny babby I didn't pay much attention to stuff like that at the time :P

[RGladden]

a) invented super-heroes and b) invented mutants.

Now as for the first one - not even DC can claim they created 'super-heroes' as they have been around since the time of the Greeks. And I am sure

<Snark!>  Invented super heroes  <Snark!>   Not unless Marvel was around before the Epic of Gilgamesh...

[Vee]

<Snark!>  Invented super heroes  <Snark!>   Not unless Marvel was around before the Epic of Gilgamesh...

Nope, but Gilgamesh was an Eternal and in the Avengers for a while, so I'm sure Marvel assumes the copyright is theirs.

[Ankhammon]

Not to take Marvel's side but if they put claws and regeneration as powers in the game, did they not think that people would make copies of you know who?

I think it was one of the reasons they didn't work on shields for the first few years.

Do they still copyright a ded guy? :-)

[silvers1]

I had several genericed:

1) Green Bow - I guess having a green clad archery blaster was too much for them. :)

2)  Powergirl - man, I had the best costume too.  Didn't expect to keep her long though.

3)  Lantern - I was never genericed, but when I deleted my Dark Corrupter and tried to make him a blaster, the name filter
wouldn't let me recreate him.   Tried and tried to get them to listen to my point of few - he had a friggen Jack-o-Lantern head
for crying out loud.   They insisted that the word Lantern belonged to DC comics.

The first two I can agree with, but Lantern was way over the line IMO.  They were dead wrong.

[Paragon Avenger]

As far as i know musicians' names aren't copyright protected, so no surprise on any of those mentioned not getting the bat.

In the rules or policies or something that nobody ever read, but we all had to click that we agreed or accept or something, anyway, it said something about any persons alive or dead or any body parts, something like that.

And for the record, you don't want an angry Motorhead visiting you at two in the morning.
(eventhough there's only three of them and they're older than dirt.)

[Vee]

Well in that case i'm glad my Chaka Kahn clawls/wp villain 'Chaka Con' didn't get the bat, she was my main tf soloer.

[doc7924]

I had several genericed:

1) Green Bow - I guess having a green clad archery blaster was too much for them. :)

2)  Powergirl - man, I had the best costume too.  Didn't expect to keep her long though.

3)  Lantern - I was never genericed, but when I deleted my Dark Corrupter and tried to make him a blaster, the name filter
wouldn't let me recreate him.   Tried and tried to get them to listen to my point of few - he had a friggen Jack-o-Lantern head
for crying out loud.   They insisted that the word Lantern belonged to DC comics.

The first two I can agree with, but Lantern was way over the line IMO.  They were dead wrong.

Oddly enough my first Khelidan I called "Doc Lighte" and then never got touched in 6 years.

[doc7924]

I was thinking with all the Marvel films, DC TV series - the GM's would be in overtime mode from all the heroes that would have to generic.

I remember when "The Incredibles"  came out - game was flooded with copies for a few months.

[Floride]

I made a military lookin empath healer named Doc Lacroix. Guess he was obscure enough that nobody noticed the Starship Troopers reference. Deleted him in favor of a non-huge empath - it's not easy trying to heal peeps when you can't see around your healer in a cave.

[silvers1]

I had a Dark/Dark defender named Doc Midnight.

He looked nothing like the Doctor Mid-Nite from DC comics, which may be why he was never genericed.  But I always
expected it to come ....

[ricodah]

Deleted him in favor of a non-huge empath - it's not easy trying to heal peeps when you can't see around your healer in a cave.

That's only true if you're trying to heal teammate's pets with single target heals.  Otherwise the size of the Empath didn't matter at all.