Dota 2

Shepard · November 25, 2018, 1:14am

Fix that for ya

DiePoente · November 25, 2018, 1:14am

Oh you

Mont_Blanc · August 11, 2020, 8:24am

Valve VS Blizzard over DOTA trademark. As if they don’t have other things to do…

FERGUS · November 25, 2018, 1:27am

Not Valve nor Blizzard is going to pursue legal action against eachother. Seems more like they set it as “It’s the player’s choice” and that they will both be called dota. There might become a problem if Blizzard decides to make a sequel though.

Mont_Blanc · November 25, 2018, 1:27am

Blizzard can’t call it Dota since Valve did trademark it.

DiePoente · November 25, 2018, 1:28am

Valve will win.

They have trademarked the name “Dota”, but what Blizzard is whining about is, that they think Valve has trademarked the whole “Defense of the Ancients - DotA” name, cause Ancients is a name from Warcraft 3. But Valve just call it Dota and that’s it.

Shadi · November 25, 2018, 1:28am

before bitching about blizz, maybe you should read the whole thing…

gugamilare · November 25, 2018, 1:28am

^ This.

bur · November 25, 2018, 1:29am

can someone tell me what it says? or copy the text or something

im at work and the website is blocked -.-

Shadi · November 25, 2018, 1:29am

Blizzard has filed court documents to challenge Valve’s use of the name Dota.

The “Defense of the Ancients” name was first used in a popular mod of Warcraft III back in 2003. In late 2010, Valve announced that it was working on a sequel to the mod, despite the fact that the original game stemmed from Warcraft, a property owned by Blizzard. IceFrog, a developer of the original mod, is now a Valve employee working on Dota 2.

Blizzard announced its own project, called Blizzard DOTA, as a mod for Starcraft II around the same time. Until now it has never legally opposed Valve’s use of the same name.

In court documents unearthed by members of the NeoGAF forums, Blizzard writes that “Valve Corporation 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.”

Interestingly, Valve’s game is “Dota 2” rather than “DOTA,” seemingly avoiding the acronym used by Blizzard. The court documents note that “it is well-known and understood among players of the DotA Mods that the DOTA Marks refer to Blizzard’s well-known characters ‘the Ancients.’” However, by not using an acronym, Valve has technically avoided referring to The Ancients at all.

Blizzard concludes that “Valve has never released, distributed, or sold any products using the mark Dota, or, for that matter, any of the Dota Marks. Valve did not coin the Dota mark and has never participated in the creation of the Dota Mods. Indeed, Valve has never released, distributed, or sold any products using any title that might conceivably be shortened to the acronym Dota. 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.”

Court documents note a timeline for the legal proceedings stretching well into 2013. No release date has been announced for Blizzard DOTA or Dota 2, and it’s not clear if Blizzard’s challenge will affect the timing of either project.

ToT · November 25, 2018, 1:29am

Ok let me make this clear.
The original creator of the game and the name, Eul, works at Valve. (Confirmed)
The longest serving and the current developer of DotA, IceFrog, is leading the Dota 2 team at Valve.

Blizzard ignored DotA for 7 years and did nothing to support it beside buffing the Map Size Limit to 8MB (the ammount of content allowed) to all custom maps.

DotA, is the acronym of Defense of the Ancients. Valve trademarked Dota2 and Dota3 as words only. However, 3 days after trademarking these name, Riot Games (League of Legends Developers) trademarked DotA-Allstars LLC then they sold it to Blizzard.

Blizzard’s argument is that DOTA is created with their editor so it belongs to their community. Wich is bullshit since they only care about developing Blizzard DOTA without being sued by Valve, so they obviously want the name for themselves.
But how does something produced in your editor belong to you?
If I wrote a text in Microsoft Word does my text belong to Microsoft?

gibbelin · November 25, 2018, 1:29am

Blizzard has a pretty good case. Dota comes from their IP. Their TOS says mods made with it belong to them (which hasn’t been tested in court and might not be legally true, but it’s still a mark in their favor).

Trademarks cannot be used to intentionally infringe on another trademark by being just slightly different, and there is a strong argument to be made that using “Dota” instead of “Defense of the Ancients” isn’t distinct enough to be granted trademark status.

Valve has nothing to worry about when it comes to the copyrights in the game, but using the Dota name might not work out for them. It’ll be interesting to find out how the courts see it.

I don’t really care who wins, so I’m busting out the popcorn. Worst case scenario for Valve is that they’ll have to change the name to Defense of the League of Heroes: Ancient Legends (and pay some legal fees).

sersoft · November 25, 2018, 1:29am

No but technically, anyone who wants to read your text is going to need a valid word license.

Medevilae · November 25, 2018, 1:29am

Yeah. Then you are able to realize they really are the ones in the wrong.

Their entire claim is that since the mod DOTA was originally made by players on a game of theirs, it’s their IP.

This argument fails for obvious reasons-

the modders who really hold claim to the DOTA IP work at Valve now
Valve had trademarked it before Blizzard gave two fucks so Blizzard’s argument wouldn’t hold up in court anyway now that Valve beat them to the punch

Yes it is? That’s not quite how trademarks work anyway.

monarch · November 25, 2018, 1:32am

any body has a gift ?

DiePoente · August 11, 2020, 8:34am

Looks like it’s going to be free 2 play

https://www.gamersbook.com/scene/news/valves-dota-2-confirmed-to-be-free-to-play/

I’m fine with that.

G-Rona · November 25, 2018, 1:34am

Excellent.

King_Kaddo · November 25, 2018, 1:34am

Excellent indeed.

ToT · August 11, 2020, 8:34am

Yep, will most likely be F2P.

It’s gonna have micro-transactions, cosmetics that do not affect gameplay and actually fit in the atmosphere of the game (unlike TF2’s hats).

These items include armor, weapons, announcers, couriers, taunts, animations… (all of which are visuals only)

Refer to this https://www.cyborgmatt.com/2012/03/dota-2-item-schema-update/
Which by the way shows the existence of a Half-Life easter egg