Round One
Round one of
Marvel vs. City of Heroes goes to the game manufacturers.
Wednesday, a
judge threw out six of Marvel\'s charges and struck portions of the charges that remained, including exhibits that were presented as examples of copyright infringement occurring in the game that
turned out to be created by Marvel . The dismissal of claims was made "without leave to amend, meaning Marvel cannot refile these claims." Not being a lawyer, I don't know if they can appeal this decision, tho.
In his decision, the judge cited the landmark case where VCRs were ruled as not violating copyright laws, a good sign for the game:
It is uncontested that Defendants’ game has a substantial non-infringing use. Generally the sale of products with substantial non-infringing uses does not evoke liability for contributory copyright infringement.
One aspect of Marvel's original complaint focused on the fact that a player could make characters that were "virtually identical" to Marvel characters. The judge seemed to set the bar for Marvel's claims:
where a computer system operator is aware of specific infringing material on the computer system, and fails to remove it, the system operator contributes to infringement
Charges of Direct Copyright Infringement and Contributory Copyright Infringement remain, however. In their
official statement , NCSoft says:
Although the judge allowed certain claims to survive the motion to dismiss, NCsoft and Cryptic Studios are pleased with the result and are confident that both the law and the facts will support their case.
It'll be interesting when the original documents come out and we can find out which charges remain...
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