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Blizzard Challenges Valve's DOTA Copyright
Posted by Matthew "LuckoftheIrish" Roberts 3 months ago
Update: Some of the lately popped up news sites in the DotA scene have decided to unpublish this information. GosuGamers feels that this information, albeit a couple of months old as previously reported, is an important and needed topic to bring up to the light. Due to the high amount of reactions and discussions it has brought forth, GosuGamers are prompted to keep the article live.
- 
Raistlin, head administrator
Raistlin, head administrator
In August 2010, Valve filed a copyright claim to the name 'DOTA'. With the so-called Blizzard DOTA in development, Blizzard and Valve were destined to conflict over the rights to the name, and by extension the legacy of the original game.
Gamesplosions has unearthed documents filed with the United States Patent Office, revealing a challenge from Blizzard to Valve's trademark claim. Filled in October 2011, the challenge is still pending.
While Valve has held the trademark to 'DOTA' since 2010, they have never applied for or held the rights to any other variation of the name. The suit filed by Blizzard encompasses not only 'DOTA' but also 'Defense of the Ancients', 'DotA', and 'Dota'.
Blizzard's challenge is based on priority - the original map was developed for Warcraft III - and 'likelihood of confusion.' Here, Blizzard is alleging that a significant chance exists that the user will be misled as to the origin of the game.
1. By this Opposition, Blizzard seeks to prevent registration by its competitor Valve Corporation ("Valve") of a trademark, DOTA, that for more than seven years has been used exclusively by Blizzard and its fan community, under license from Blizzard. By virtue of that use, the DOTA mark has become firmly associated in the mind of consumers with Blizzard, including to signify a highly popular scenario or variant of one of Blizzard's best-selling computer games, Warcraft III. Over the past seven years, the mark DOTA has been used exclusively in connection with Blizzard and its products, namely Warcraft III. Most notably, DOTA has been used as the popular name of a Warcraft III software "mod" file that has been distributed, marketed, and promoted by Blizzard and its fans (under license from Blizzard); that utilizes and is built upon the Warcraft III game engine, interface, and gameplay mechanics; that is comprised of Warcraft III characters, items, spells, artwork, textures, and color palates; that can be played only using Warcraft III software and via Blizzard's online service Battle.net ; and whose name (DOTA, an acronym for "Defense of the Ancients") is a reference to Warcraft III characters known as the "Ancients."
2. 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.
Emphasis added.
Blizzard's challenge is currently before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. As always, GosuGamers will bring you updates when and as they become available.
| Links |
| United States Patent Office - Complaint filed by Blizzard |
| United States Patent Office - DOTA trademark latest Status Info |
| Gamesplosion - News |
| Comments \ Paging |
1, 2, 3, 4, 5 
|
5
| Blizzard had their chance ages ago to make dota standalone if they really wanted.. Now they are upset they've lost it... Not a smart move will just get them lots of haters and people who want to boycott them :/ |
| So pathetic. They didn't want to make dota into a standalone game back then, way before valve came in. "Also, 7 years Blizzard put in" wtf did Blizzard do for dota? ._. |
^ well blizzard thought dota wasn't marketable, I wouldn't know about now though.  |
| ^ +1 |
| I cannot recommend highly enough clicking the first link and reading through the complaint filed by the company. |
| Classy Blizzard |
| #3 +11 |
| It's worrisome, though, if Blizzard's assertions are true. Apparently playdota, getdota and others have actual licenses from Blizzard. That wouldn't be good if true. Whether or not it is... I have my doubts. |
| dont know much about what the EULA contains but i have a bad feeling some suit at the patent office might agree with blizzard and rule in their favor. oh well this just gives me yet another reason to dislike blizzard even more. |
| #8 Like what exactly? |
| DOTA has been used as the popular name of a Warcraft III software "mod" file that has been distributed, marketed, and promoted by Blizzard and its fans (under license from Blizzard) Y U Blizzard, since when u officially promoted DoTA? I believe it was DoTA-fans who did it... |
| even if Blizzard wins this suit no one will play the game |
| #1, #2 , #11 +1 Yeah srsly, WHAT has Blizzard done for Dota? Marketed? Promoted? NOPE. Blizzard could have made Dota 2. They didn't want to. Too late now. |
| Well, Valve are clever and are selling their game as "Dota" Not "DotA" or "Defense of the Ancients". |
| If you read part 16 it seems as if they've put alot of effort in marketing dota have anyone seen blizz promoting dota? Except for BlizzardDOTA.... |
| "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" "Blizzard also has regularly and consistently advertised and promoted the DotA Mods" I rofld so hard when I read these parts  Oh yes, Blizzard helped DotA and Icefrog alot throughout these 7 years....not. |
| I used to love Blizzard. But today, looking at what they're doing with SC2 and D3, Battle.net 2.0... |
| This is a hilarious lawsuit, the sad part is it will probably go through because blizz owns War3. It doesn't matter either way, who the fuck is going to play blizzard dota? Blizzard does not understand dota at all, its unliike anything they have ever made themselves. |
| Blizzard tut tut |
| WTF, Its own by Guinsoo and Eul... two legendary custom map maker... |
| blizzard keep stolen formats and doing his business, nothing new. Blizzard is only starcraft 2 and diablo. they will keep stolen our money forever with, starcraft 34 "the sexual fantasy of Sarah Kerrigan" and diablo 67 "the revenge of the Deckard Cain's grandson"  |
| Blizzard only cares about the money,not the player.What did they do for the development of dota 1 over the years? :O They had their chance,but they messed it up and now this shit.I stopped playing wow anyway (boring,balance ????)and i wont play diablo 3 (taking out content from the beta,just to have it for the next addon,I guess ....,an ingameshop with real money,where they earn by any transaction between players)Na,once i really liked them,but...cant like a company which only cares about the money and now wants to cause problems for valve which tries to develope the best game,dota,and wants to make a big e-sport out of it. |
| Need a gosubet for this, my tangos are on Blizzard. It's only a name though, who cares about names? It's the game that matters. |
| BLIZZARDS = MONEY MONEY MONEY=nothing more,this company do anything when they see moneY |
| Maybe actually read the thing, as #5 said, or turn on your brains. Sure, blizzard's marketing and promotion were kept to a minimum (blizzcon and such) but how can you ask questions like "wtf did Blizzard do for dota?" They made the engine that made the game possible in the first place. Sure, there was AoS but nobody played that, and for a reason. And I'm pretty sure if someone tried to create a DotA type of game in C&C3 or AoE2 (WC3's biggest competitors back in the day) it wouldn't have been successful at all. They also provided us with Battle.net for free for anyone that already had WC3 (no monthly fee or anything). And besides the very stable servers and all you have to consider that this also provided an audience for mod makers. There would have been a lot less if there hadn't been as many players around. And while right now WC3's bnet doesn't seem very impressive we're talking about a time when you often had to enter the hosts ip directly in order to join a game. And while this is just a minor point I'd like to point out that when DotA got close to reaching the maximum map size they doubled it. So yeah, blizzard did very little for DotA directly. But they provided an enviroment where mods like DotA could easily be created, presented to a huge audience and flourish. Maybe not everyone knows this but the approach of just providing the public with the tools they need to create whatever they want is certainly not new and has many times shown incredible results, DotA is just one of many examples. Yes, they missed out on approaching Icefrog, cooperating with him directly, creating a standalone game. But if you actually read through what they wrote and take off the fanboy goggles you might just see that they do have a point. |
| I use to respect blizzard, but now... BUT NOW! |
| THIS IS HAPPENING BECAUSE DOTA 1 ERA IS COME TO AN END!! |
| This is a lose/lose situation. Valve might lose their name, and Blizzard will lose many fans that have played their games for years (like me). Fucking Blizzard doesn't get that though.. |
| #19 nobody said anything about lawsuit...its just that blizzard doesnt want Valve to own the term Dota.... still pathetic, thoo... |
| Didn't Riot also complain about this? |
| #26 Nobody is saying that. Of course it belongs to Blizzard cuz the mod was made with their engine and their tools but the fact that they are doing this now is just... meh. Why do they need to do it? Suddenly they care? I wonder why. |
| The only thing Blizzard made for Dota from 2007 till 2010 is abbandoning Dota Allstars as a discipline at WCG and BlizzCons. |
| "26. If Valve is granted registration of the DOTA mark, it would obtain a prima facie exclusive right to use of its mark that would cause damage and injury to Blizzard." This is the most important part. They are trying to stop Valve from having undisputed exclusive rights to the name DOTA. This is obviously a reasonable measure to take since they are making blizzard DOTA. It's still extremely annoying, though, since they make it sound as if they are on the side of the community when they are for the most part not. By far the most grating is the idea of this "seven years of good will" when Blizzard's contributions to DotA has been very minimal and insignificant. Valve already dropped the titles 'DotA' and 'Defense of the Ancients', using the title of 'DOTA' not as an acronym, which was a necessary move and will probably allow them to use the name Dota 2 for the game. However, my best guess is that Valve will be denied copyright over DOTA because of this Notice of Opposition. |
| Pff i can't believe these guys. Over all these years they have not done one thing to promote or help develop the game. And instead of being thankful for their outdated game being played by a huge fanbase instead of dying with the end of the WarCraft III competitive scene they do everything possible to slow down Dota's progress. What's this bullshit about DotA being associated with WarCraft III? I'd say it's quite the opposite. Both my game folder and desktop shortcut are named DotA + i don't use their shitty Battle.net. I would not have their stupid software on my computer if it wasn't for my favourite game being hosted on it. I also believe law is on the side of Valve in this case. Can the inventor of the piano want copyright over Beethoven's symphonies? Can Bill Gates file a complaint about all the software that's being coded on his OS? Completely groundless statements that made them look like fools. And to think i watched a StarCraft 2 stream last night unaware of what giant dicks Blizzard are... I'm uninstalling WoW, not buying Diablo III and deleting WarCraft III the second i get a beta key for Dota 2. And one last thing we all saw their pathetic trailer for Blizzard Dota with their Blue and Red gods who kidnapped heroes to make them fight without purpose coming out "soonish". I found it offending to the community and extremely retarded and unresponsible, on the contrary look at the massive effort Valve has put in the game. If you want your opinion heard on the matter or just want to make a random hateful comment email the Blizzard dickwads at: info-en@blizzard.com |
| @26 take off your blizzard fanboy toggles...do you really think blizzard does anything without having advantages out of it?considering the fact that you have to buy their products to play dota...think there are many people who bought wc3 to play dota in the end,to allow mods blizz increased their offer for players,keep battlenet alive for wc3,for their advertising.This whole shit here shows,even if they have a right to say,dota 1 is based on their engine etc.blabla,they dont care about the players....like always.get it. |
| i think the main idea of dota his icefrog hand, no matter blizzard hold title for 7 years dota name |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx1JDEnrVK8 ^who gives a shit about them dota? |
| I'd like to send a nice, big, juicy "FUCK YOU" to Blizzard, a company I have loved, for lowering itself to new lows. The company, DotA-Allstars, LLC, was run by Pendragon and Guinsoo. Guinsoo left after a matter of months to play WoW and Pendragon only ever rode on IceFrog's shoulders. Blizzard made the map editor and that is all they deserve credit for. They didn't even mention IceFrog in their lawsuit, so they only told half the story. |
| I read the whole text, and it is hilarious. They claim that they own rights to dota because they own rights to WC3. Such a dissapointing move from the company that was my favourite 'till they merged with Activision and have begun all this nonsense with SC2, D3 and now DOTA. Go make you stupid Blizzard DOTA where towers have ammunitions and w/o denies. Just their cooperation with Riot games is disguisting enough, at least for me. I own Starcraft 2, but I will think hard before buying D3 or SC2 expansion in the future. And as far as I know, they made EULA for SC2 that everything you make in SC2's editor is Blizzard's and you own no rights for that, but that is not the case with WC3's editor? |
| Boycott Blizzard, spread information to everyone you know: STOP BUYING ANY BLIZZARD RELATED PRODUCT! |
| what a desperate move.. they have no clue how the laws for intellectual rights work this can only end Valve winning the name and Blizzard losing a lot of fans... |
| Valve can always change their name. Still, noone will play Blizzard dota. |
| I'm still buying diablo 3 ^^ |
| #45 torrent it! those pigs don't deserve your money |
| "boycotting" Blizzard? it means no Diablo 3 for you. Can you handle it? Especially having in mind that Blizzard wouldnt even notice this kind of "loss". |
| No more Blizzard for me. Was a massive fan but enough is enough. P.s. #46 nice name, took me 30 sec to figure it out =P |
| This complaint in nothing but a pathetic attempt to bring people back to Dota 1. When Dota was available as wc3 map only, blizzard were so happy, they were making money from B-net without doing anything about the game - and why to do, make money and fuck the game ofc. During all these 7 years blizzard didnt host a single major tournament, and the prizes they gave for funny battle.net tournaments were probably less than 5-10% of what valve gave for a single tournament, even when the game is still in its beta and no money come from it. Blizzard has absolutely no rights to want anything from valve |
| Too much hate. But I don't believe people will boycott Blizzard. Can you live without Diablo 3? Ofc not. |
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