Marvel case against City of Heroes falters
Cryptic appear to be gaining the upper hand
Marvel's legal assault on MMORPG City of Heroes was dealt a serious blow by an LA District court, who dismissed many of Marvel's claims that the superhero MMOG infringes on their copyrighted comic heroes. The Judge presiding reportedly dismissed Marvel's own character creations made using the game's tools as "false and sham", stating they were created by Marvel not the game's makers. The game's developer Cryptic had appealed vehemently against Marvel's allegations, arguing in-favour of artistic freedom, and stating that to make illegal their own character creation tools would be like banning pen and paper as a tool enabling breach of copyright.
Several of Marvel's claims did survive the ruling, but Cryptic are confident they will now win through, with the Judge citing a 1984 ruling about the videotape, which inspired the following on the game: "It is uncontested that [the] 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."
So it's a game - not a product designed to copy Marvel's comics.
More on Marvel's legal assault soon.
