Marvel v NCsoft Whimpers Out

Marvel, NCsoft and Crytpic have settled the "City of Heroes" lawsuit. As always the settlement is "amicable" and it clears the way for both parties "to develop and sell exciting and innovative products" and yada yada yada.

I guess this is hardly surprising, and no doubt in the parties' best interests. But law academics always feel a little let down when there is nothing to point to by way of a precedent or policy pronouncement. And this case was really significant because it exposed the faultlines of intellectual property protection in this space, and made a number of people recognize that there is a significant issue in the way that we express ourselves within MOGs/VWs.

But enough of my mewlings.

Hand me some more eggnog.

Summary over the fold and here is the press release.

Update: 7:54pm Story here by Daniel Terdiman, quoting all manner of notables, but none so notable as our very own G. Lastowka Esq. As Greg says: "... Marvel's claims of player infringement have not been formally rejected by the court, which means analogous claims might be pursued by Marvel, or a like-minded company, in the future."

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AUSTIN, Texas, December 12, 2005—Marvel Entertainment, Inc., NCsoft® Corporation, NC Interactive, Inc. and Cryptic Studios™, Inc. are pleased to announce today that they have amicably settled all claims brought by Marvel and all claims brought by NCsoft, NC Interactive, Inc. and Cryptic Studios, Inc.

The parties' settlement allows them all to continue to develop and sell exciting and innovative products, but does not reduce the players' ability to express their creativity in making and playing original and exciting characters. Therefore, no changes to City of Heroes® or City of Villains'™ character creation engine are part of the settlement. The parties have agreed that protecting intellectual property rights is critically important and each will continue aggressively to protect such rights in accordance with all applicable laws. While the terms of the settlement were not disclosed, all parties agree that this case was never about monetary issues and that the fans of their respective products and characters are the winners in this settlement.

Comments

[Peter Edelmann]

1.

all parties agree that this case was never about monetary issues and that the fans of their respective products and characters are the winners in this settlement.

Congratulations to all the winners out there - do keep your payment plans up to date. Now remember - none of this is about the money - we sue to defend the principles of erm... freedom and democracy or something. The principles are just a little different right now, based on market conditions and all...

The parties have agreed that protecting intellectual property rights is critically important and each will continue aggressively to protect such rights in accordance with all applicable laws.

(c) Member Content. Members can upload to and create content on our servers in various forms, such as in selections you make and characters and items you create for City of Heroes, and in bulletin boards and similar user-to-user areas (“Member Content”). By submitting Member Content to or creating Member Content on any area of the Service, you acknowledge and agree that such Member Content is the sole property of NC Interactive. [City of Heroes EULA]

Oh, we didn't mean your IP rights. Erm... we'll just keep your creations safe... erm... because we care... yeah... you're winner, don't you feel it?

Methinks we might need more eggnog. L'eau de bullshite is making me nauseous.

[bruce boston]

2.

"But law academics always feel a little let down when there is nothing to point to by way of a precedent or policy pronouncement."

Ahhh, I feel for ya....

"As always the settlement is "amicable" and it clears the way for both parties "to develop and sell exciting and innovative products" and yada yada yada."

Just so I have it clear, ... you prefer it when game companies are debating huge legal questions and not focusing on developing exciting and innovative products? As a player, I kinda like it the other way, kinda like when game developers are free to, well, developer games....

Who knows, maybe someday a developer will create a game just for law academics where the point of the game is to go test all these questions....
monthly fee: $25,000 a month....

-bruce

[Alan]

3.

I sympathize with Dan. I was rather curious to see what a court would do with this and how far the case would go. Alas, we shall have to wait for another opportunity to see courts explore this vast, untested frontier.

And quite frankly, Bruce, as long as it's NCSoft and Marvel, and not Blizzard (or involving WoW), I'm content to watch them litigate. *starts thinking about the night's WoW excursion*