Marvel Clamps Down On Game Skins

Posted by simoniker on Wednesday June 18, 2003 @07:18AM from the spidey-evicted-from-sims-house dept.

mrleemrlee writes "Marvel Entertainment has sent a cease-and-desist letter to The Skindex, which houses skins for customizing computer games such as The Sims and Freedom Force. The Webmaster has responded by pulling the website's content and publishing a copy of the letter. This is interesting in that such skinning has been going on for a decade, at least since Doom. Only now has Marvel decided to protect its IP; what might it have in store? Do other sites have anything to worry about?" Are user-created game skins of their characters good publicity for companies like Marvel, or an unacceptable copyright violation?

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Trademarks by Darthnice · 2003-06-18 07:26 · Score: 5, Informative

Are user-created game skins of their characters good publicity for companies like Marvel, or an unacceptable copyright violation?
Unfortunately, due to the way Trademarks work, if you don't protect your Trademark, it will enter the public domain. It sucks because though the guys writing comics would probably love to see spidey and green goblin skins in player's games, it delutes the brand, and if unprotected would allow others to actually make Spiderman comics without any payment to Marvel. Marvel would lose the Spiderman brand.