Setback for Marvel in NCSoft Lawsuit

DeeFresh writes "An article on Gamesindustry.biz is reporting that Judge R. Gary Klausner dismissed many of the Marvel's claims against NCSoft. From the article: 'Judge Klausner also agreed with the defendants that some of Marvel's allegations and exhibits should be stricken as 'false and sham' because they were not actually created by users of the game but by Marvel itself.'" Commentary also available on Gamespot.com.

Comments

The whole lawsuit should be considered a sham...

[Danse]

Marvel's hypocrisy never ceases to astound me. If they had actually created all their characters rather than simply copying the ideas of others (who had often copied them from others still), then maybe they'd have a case. As it stands, Marvel wouldn't exist if they hadn't done things a whole lot "worse" than what they're suing NCSoft for.

Copywriting ideas?

[Mumpsman]

Is it just me or does this sound like Marvel is trying to claim ownership of super-heros as a concept? How is creating my character on-line to look like the Hulk any different than making my own Hulk halloween costume and wearing it out in public? I'm not claiming to be officially representing Marvel in any way, and you'd have to be a pretty big idiot to think I was.

I play Call of Duty as "Dr. Johnny Fever" could the creators of WKRP have a case against me or the game developers? I call Shenanigans!

The Judge...

[tprime]

Now, how do we get this judge to preside over the ongoing debate of fair use in the digital world? Judge Klausner seems to actually "get it" that just because a product exists, it isn't going to immediately be used to steal or infringe upon copyrights.

I have a feeling that the judgement in this case is actually bigger than we realize right now.

DC vs. Pixar?

[White Roses]

On the basis of this, shouldn't DC be suing Pixar? I mean, "Elastigirl" is basically "Plastic Man" with breasts (and Plastic Man could have breasts anyway, he's plastic!). They have some of the same letters ("lasti"), and sound superfically similar. Plus, evil Pixar even flaunted it by putting Elastigirl in a red outfit! I mean really.

Gazerbeam? Total rip-off of Cyclops (Marvel again).

The point is, in most cases, the super-hero genre is a string of characters with similar abilities all with slightly different names or secondary powers. There's going to be a lot of overlap. Marvel would have to prove that NCSoft set out to promote said infringement. That's not the case. NCSoft is more like Xerox (or, say, a beat-up old Canon multifuction ink jet printer/copier/fax): you can make "infringing" copies, but (a) that's not the intent and (b) the copies all kinda suck anyway.

Join Em!

[blueZhift]

Now that Marvel's silly claims are falling flat in court, it might be a good time for them to team up with NCSoft and give their fans what they want. Why not go ahead and license the characters to NCSoft in a special expansion pack with a premium monthly surcharge? Fans who want to play as or against Marvel characters get what they want, and Marvel and NCSoft get some extra cash. This seems to make so much more sense than duking it out in court.

Re:The whole lawsuit should be considered a sham..

[Anonymous Coward]

Lie, cheat, and steal to get successful. Then change the laws so others can't do the same.

Frivolous Copyright Claims

[Ghetto_D]

If legislation like this is actually passed, will kids be sued for homemade costumes? If you send your son treak-or-treeting in a homemade Spiderman costume because you couldn't afford an officially endorsed one, will you be fined? Will every 5 year-old boy who dreams of flying and runs around his backyard be sued for copyright infringement?

Re:The whole lawsuit should be considered a sham..

[Danse]

They did make some great comics. But this isn't really about the quality of their stories. This is about the characters, and in a way, not even that, but just about the look and feel of the characters. How many of Marvel's characters were ripped off of other existing characters? A lot. Now they made up new stories and such for them in most cases, but it's obvious where the ideas came from. There's a couple articles I've seen that even go through and list a lot of the comparisons between Marvel characters and the characters they were based on. Now they're suing NCSoft for even less than that. Just for the fact that players of the game can create characters that look like Marvel characters and have similar powers. How wrong is that? I stand by my post.