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Mythic Sues Microsoft Over Mythica MMORPG
An anonymous reader writes "Mythic Entertainment, developers of PC MMO videogame Dark Age of Camelot, has filed suit against Microsoft, arguing that Microsoft's upcoming MMORPG Mythica is too similar in name and content (it 'also employs Norse images and mythology') to its own name and flagship title. Maybe if game developers could dream up a genre other than fantasy, problems like this would be averted..."
Right, but if the dumbshit public didn't buy all of these fantasy games then there wouldn't be a market for it.
The lack of creativity and originality stems from the buying public, and this means you.
I'm sorry, but Linux was in the wrong that time; MS was in the right.
Come on now, you know that would require creativity and a capacity for originality!
And even when they dream up a non-wizards-and-dragons genre, they end up being unoriginal.
For example: Anarchy Online and Star Wars Galaxies. Same game mechanics, different window dressing.
No sig
Microsoft is not being sued because it's making a norse gods game. It's being sued because it made a norse god game that's called MYTHICA. Y'see, to establish trademark violation, you have to establish TWO THINGS. First, you have to establish that the trademark is sufficiently similar. Second, you have to establish that the two names in question are for products which are in the same market and could confuse customers. If Microsoft named renamed Microsoft Word to Microsoft Mythica, it'd be fine. But it didn't. It gave the name Mythica that is very similar to another product with an existing similar trademark. Game set and match -- Microsoft will go down on this one for certain.
doesn't own Myth anymore.
I thought exactly the same as you when I read this at first, except that Bungie divested itself of the Myth "franchise", a less than brilliant move that seemed to be part of the acquisition deal when they were kidnapped by Microsoft.
Actually, I remember vividly that all copies of Myth II for all platforms were recalled by Microsoft within hours of the acquisition. It took several months to locate a store that still had the Loki published Linux version of Myth II, and to this day, you can still no longer purchase a Windows or Mac version of Myth II. Myth III was released by someone else.
Bungie is not referred to on that page about Mythica, so it will be interesting to see how this turns out.
-- Len
But the bigger argument about Lindows vs. Windows is that Windows shouldn't have been given trademark. That would be like Ford trademarking "Car".
News Release
Ford Motor Company has just released Car v4.8. In other news, Ford sues General Motors for releasing a new compact "car".
MS should lose the trademark on the Windows name. Lindows may indeed be playing off the Windows name, but the windows name is far too generic. Many operating systems have for 20 years used "windows" as a primary feature of their graphical interfaces.
.sigs are for post^Hers.
Try again. It represents a trademark of a particular word within a particular context.
For a trademark to hold any validity it must be defended against dilution. Mythic's claim is that the use of Mythica in the context that Microsoft is using it is confusingly similar to the Mythic trademark.
Originality of content and the theme / basis of the content is not what's being questioned in the lawsuit. What's being questioned is the name.
Um. Not an expert in this stuff but awhile back I read an interesting book on the history of dark age England and they mentioned that the Venerable Bede (8th century) and the earlier Gildas (6th century) who lived shortly after the events described how Vortigern allowed the Germanic Englisci into Britain as mercenaries and how a war then ensued between them and the Britons. The writers state that the Britons (really the Romanised inhabitants left high and dry after Rome fell) were pushed back but that a leader arose called Arturus who fought successfully but was finally defeated by internal intrigue. Bede went on and on about how the plotters screwed Britain. Sounds like a model for Camelot. I don't know how accurate this all was, the book was pretty scholarly describing in detail the spread of things like buckle designs of Germanic origin at the time etc. Pretty interesting though showing a very different view of the "Dark Ages".
Google around for vortigern bede gildas arthur and you'll see plenty of stuff. For example.
One little quote on that page (which is later but Bede mentions Arthur too):
Bitter and proud of it.
'King' Arthur was a Romanized, Christian Celt and a damned traitor to his people and his culture.
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
Geoffrey's dates for Arthur have him dying in AD 542. More likely, the events Geoffrey is adapting took place in the AD 470s, though. Badon Hill might be 542, though; I seem to remember that some authorities think it was, others that it wasn't, related to "Arthur." Really complex problem. See the Penguin edition of Geoffrey of Monmouth, *The History of the Kings of Britain*
We must remember that Mythic's case against Microsoft constitutes a claim of ownership over these themes.
No it doesn't. It constitues a claim of ownership over their company's name.
They're not suing because Microsoft is making a medieval fantasy MMOG. They're suing because Microsoft is naming it confusingly similar to their company's name -- and since their company also makes a medieval fantasy MMOG, it could be confusing to the market.
NO CARRIER