A lot of you have been misinformed about a lot of this:

Icefrog did not make DOTA: All-Stars, that would be Guinsoo. Icefrog took over for Guinsoo when he was tired of working on it and Icefrog had already been helping him before this decision, so it was turned over to him. This means that Icefrog has all of the creative rights over the mod as long as they do not step on any copyrighted content. Which they have not. They have gone through all of the proper channels to do everything they have done so far.

Originally DOTA was created by Eul, who has kept quiet this entire time and according to CecilSunkure, is currently attending Digipen in Washington.

This was filed back in November and is merely a dispute over the name, so it is just an issue of filing suit. Old news.

Blizzard is just fighting Valve over having sole rights to the name DOTA and directly making a sequel to it, DOTA2. In my opinion, since Icefrog is the current retainer of the mod, it is his to do what he wants.

In the end, this is just Blizzard saying: "MAKE THE NAME VALVE DOTA!"

Pretty sure Icefrog is helping develop DOTA 2 with Valve...


lol

Yes, we've established this a few times now.

It is quite a sticky situation.

@CAFG and TS example - TS, in my eyes, was brought into the competitive scene by you and moose, but a lot of the ideas that remain to this day is thought up by me. Either way, if one of us were asked to make TS2 and make money out of it, it is more acceptable (but still classless) for the rest of us to sue, because we've actually put energy and effort into the map.

The Blizzard vs. Valve thing is with people who have NOT put any effort on the map vs. people who have hired, and is therefore giving monetary support to the person who has put energy and effort into the game.

EDIT:
Aha! Here's where Blizzard can come in and might actually win this case. Although morally (as in "in our hearts"), Blizzard has lost on all fronts, I do believe that this EULA makes this case a sticky situation where Blizzard might come out top.
EDIT EDIT: If Blizzard owns DOTA 1, does it make them own or be able to trademark the phrase "DOTA" or Defense of the Ancients?

All biases and opinions aside...
my main point was to discuss the system in which games/intellectual properties are copyrighted and are owned.

The system pretty much makes it so that it doesn't matter who is the brainchild of the game, or even who actually understands the game. A person who was under a company and made a good game can be kicked out of the studio, and then years later be refused to make a sequel of the same game. The company who kicked this person out might never use this intellectual property to its fullest, or have even thought about doing it.

To me, this blizzard vs. valve thing is the product of a much bigger underlying problem.

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Feb 11 2012, 9:20 pm by UnholyUrine.

If I recall, isn't this suit is about the rights to the name "DOTA," though, as opposed to the rights to who can make a DOTA game? Since "DOTA" is an acronym for "Defense of the Ancients," a phrase that comes from WarCraft's lore, and the original "Defense of the Ancients" was a map made to play that battle in WarCraft's lore, then it seems pretty obvious that Blizzard should get the rights to it.

Supposedly, if this is true:

I don't think Blizzard owns exclusive rights to the term 'Ancients'.

True, and if the game was just called "Ancients" then they'd be idiots to try to get the trademark removed. But it isn't just called "Ancients."

No, but the argument that calling out trademark infringement for the full 'Defense of the Ancients' label on the grounds that 'Ancients' are an exclusive Blizzard trademark is not valid, if one is to be made to that effect. Jus' sayin'.

Just read through their suit. Blizzard isn't trying to trademark DotA, they're just trying to stop Valve from trademarking it. Which seems fair.

I guess though, some guy will probably decide this that's never even used a computer. All them newfangled contraptions and whatnot.

"Defense of the Ancients" is owned by Guinsoo or Pendragon, cannot remember who, who quickly patented the name around the same time that the leaks of IceFrog's employment were made. In a troll-like manner, Valve just patented the name DOTA, not as an acronym, but a word/title.

For those of you who do not know, both Guinsoo and Pendragon work for Riot.

And yes, Icefrog is the HEAD of the DOTA2 project. That means he makes the decisions within the project.

Here is a bit about Pendragon:

Where'd you hear the latter?

Wait so you can "trademark" (cause I don't even know if that's the right term anymore) "Defense of the Ancients" AND "DOTA" as separate things?

I'm just getting confused now....

@ "causing consumers to falsely believe that Valve's products are affiliated, sponsored or endorsed by Blizzard and are related or connected to Warcraft III."
I personally think the false affiliation would benefit both Blizzard and Valve...
*shrug*

Not entirely too sure about that Eul working with Valve part, I have a few people that have told me he is currently attending Digipen.

Think of it like someone trademarks the name UBER and then another company trademarks United Beasts of Eternal Rest or some shit, then calls it U.B.E.R.

Blizzard's paper for that case

Point 21 is very interesting...

http://tarr.uspto.gov/tarr?regser=serial&entry=85103667+&action=Request+Status

This is apparently the one between Blizzard and Valve, like Ahli's, but a little different.

So that website proves that the phrase "DOTA" is under Dota-allstars LLC, which is under Blizzard?

Rock and a hard place.

Blizzard makes a good point. Icefrog/all the creators of DotA make a good point.

I don't really think there should be a dota 2, but it's much easier to associate the dota name with "dota 2" rather than "hon" "lol" or "sotis", and I think valve wants to capitalize on this.

In the end though, blizzard is probably just trying to make a buck/figure out if there is a legal problem with it. Blizz should be happy just to find out the ruling.

So basically, as soon as money entered the picture, things turned to shit for everyone.