In yet another boneheaded move, the clueless suits over at Marvel have decided to sue City of Heroes.
In its lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court, Marvel argues that the game’s character creation engine easily allows players to design characters that are virtual copies of its own superheros, including “The Incredible Hulk.”
The company singles out a game feature for creating “a gigantic, green, ‘science-based tanker’-type hero that moves and behaves nearly identically” to the “Hulk.” Players can also create a “mutant-based” hero powers and a costume nearly identical to Marvel’s “Wolverine,” according to the suit.
The New York-based company also took issue with the ability of players to go so far as to name their superhero creations after Marvel comic book characters.
So a bunch of fans of the Incredible Hulk, who like him so much they decided to try to make a character similar to him, will now be slapped in the face. And this is all Cryptic‘s fault? It’s my understanding that Cryptic requested a list of trademarked names from all the major comic book companies, and they banned the use of all the names on those lists. So that makes their point about names moot in my opinion.
When will companies learn that it is possible to protect your trademarks without being an asshole? What’s next, suing the makers of Sharpie markers because someone drew a picture of Wonder Woman with one?
