Code of Conduct Update - September 25th 2019

[nightroarer]

There only character I have (out of 58 so far) that might be in danger is named Paladin TW (TW for our supergroup). I know Marvel has a character named Paladin, but my character is in no way related to that one. I have been going on the assumption that the term "paladin" is a generic term for hero and cannot be copyrighted in itself.

 

Would it be prudent to open a ticket on my character to verify? I'd hate to waste a GM's time, but don't want to break the CoC either.

[Blackbird71]

24 minutes ago, nightroarer said:

There only character I have (out of 58 so far) that might be in danger is named Paladin TW (TW for our supergroup). I know Marvel has a character named Paladin, but my character is in no way related to that one. I have been going on the assumption that the term "paladin" is a generic term for hero and cannot be copyrighted in itself.

 

Would it be prudent to open a ticket on my character to verify? I'd hate to waste a GM's time, but don't want to break the CoC either.

Paladin is a term for a holy warrior or a crusader, so I don't think that alone can be a trademark infringement.  Based on what the GMs and others have said in this thread, as long as your costume and bio are not reminiscent of the Marvel Paladin character, I would think you should be fine.  But that's just my opinion, take it for what it is worth.

 

Now if for example, Marvel had a character named "Purple Paladin" (and for all I know, they do), and you called yours "Purple Paladin", then it would be a more complicated situation as you've moved from a single word with a general meaning to a specific phrase used as a name.  "Paladin" alone probably cannot be trademarked, but the combined words "Purple Paladin" probably can.  Does that make sense?

[Haijinx]

23 minutes ago, nightroarer said:

There only character I have (out of 58 so far) that might be in danger is named Paladin TW (TW for our supergroup). I know Marvel has a character named Paladin, but my character is in no way related to that one. I have been going on the assumption that the term "paladin" is a generic term for hero and cannot be copyrighted in itself.

 

Would it be prudent to open a ticket on my character to verify? I'd hate to waste a GM's time, but don't want to break the CoC either.

Paladin was also a TV series character.   Its also a general use term.  

 

Im curious if a D list, fairly obscure marvel character that already shares a name with other characters counts in this?

 

My initial reaction would be that it should be allowed.  But its def not up to me.

 

I was surprised Thor was allowed, which suggests the interpretation is going to be a sane one.

 

[Haijinx]

1 minute ago, Blackbird71 said:

 

There is a DC Blackbird too .. but you would think that name is allowed as long as the character was not related.

[Heraclea]

4 hours ago, PaxArcana said:

Hell.  You can maybe do it publicly@Jimmy.  Hold a monthly "Cosplay as your favorite character from comics, movies, etc" costume contest.@GM Capocollo@GM Widower

 

IIRC, the one official, GM organized costume contest that I participated in, several months ago, in Kallisti Wharf, had homage characters as its theme.  

[Haijinx]

2 hours ago, Blackbird71 said:

I believe that Shard was referring to the reporting of offensive/vulgar character names, which was separate from the new rule.

You mean i could have reported the Poo Water guy i teamed with, who had all brown effects to water blast?

 

 

[ShardWarrior]

10 minutes ago, Haijinx said:

You mean i could have reported the Poo Water guy i teamed with, who had all brown effects to water blast?

Haha!  I think I was on a TF with that toon.  Yellow water seems to be the color of choice.  I won't repeat what the names and bios were....

[Sainguine22]

Enjoy it while it lasts, the more ncsoft gets their foot in the door the more control they have. That means a server wipe and a sub incoming. Don't be fooled, they smell the money on this and they've seen the population

[Craigrx]

15 minutes ago, Sainguine22 said:

Enjoy it while it lasts, the more ncsoft gets their foot in the door the more control they have. That means a server wipe and a sub incoming. Don't be fooled, they smell the money on this and they've seen the population

I sincerely doubt that NCSoft wants to relaunch CoH, having read that CoH WAS making money for them BUT it wasn't enough money when compared to their other IP's most of which appeal to the Korean crowd. City of Heroes was mainly a English speaking MMO's mind you I said MOSTLY but it did poorly with NCSoft's target audience Koreans

[QuiJon2]

On 9/24/2019 at 4:50 PM, Sylar said:

not if the deal is finalized, why the F would HC agree to something like that if the deal isn't even set? that's like asking people to jump through hoops on the 0.1% chance of getting a can opener for their spaghetti, yeah no what an actual dumb move.

Even if he is and remains a rogue server that just gets ignored by Nc Soft being the game is still owned by them it is likely marvel or whoever's would pressure them to enforce the use of their software rather then go after a volunteer server with no money behind it.

[Takel]

Everyone's missing the real question: is Jim Butcher still allowed to play as Harry Dresden?

[Myrmidon]

Just tell me where the reports need to be sent.

[GM Tempest]

1 hour ago, Sainguine22 said:

Enjoy it while it lasts, the more ncsoft gets their foot in the door the more control they have. That means a server wipe and a sub incoming. Don't be fooled, they smell the money on this and they've seen the population

We have not, nor will we ever charge to play this game.

[Snakebit]

11 hours ago, Mansome said:

Can we get some guidelines on what we can and can't do? I thought likenesses were okay you just can't name them that. If I made a Dr. Strange as a character, using the likeness but calling him Dr. Weirdo instead would this be okay?

Yes, you are correct. You could make a Dr. Strange costume and call him something other than Dr. Strange. You could technically call him Dr. Strange and use a different costume and not use a magic origin. 

 

Technically. 

 

I am not the Homecoming team, but if I were and I saw a character named Dr. Strange it would be generic'd immediately. Because lawyers cost money. A lot of money.  

[ShardWarrior]

1 minute ago, cejmp said:

You could technically call him Dr. Strange

Name is key part of trademark and likeness though.

[Snakebit]

Just now, ShardWarrior said:

Name is key part of trademark and likeness though.

Yes, but only a part.  If your character was named Frederick Strange instead of Stephen Strange, you have an homage to a phsyican that lived in the 1800's. Or one that lived in Canada. 

 

Dr Strange in and of itself is only a part of the trademark. 

[PaxArcana]

I was trying to figure out a good way to say what @cejmp just did.  Turns out I shouldn't have been worried about fancy wording, because the simple-and-to-the-point version works fine.

 

For example, you should be able to use "Doctor Strange" for a technology-origin inventor / gadget-user (MM, Robo/Traps, for example), give him a steampunk-ish look ... and be completely in the clear.

 

Just stay away from flying, former-neurosurgeon Sorcerors.  🙂

Edited September 26, 2019 by PaxArcana

[ShardWarrior]

2 minutes ago, cejmp said:

Dr Strange in and of itself is only a part of the trademark. 

True, but slippery slope there and I am thinking this is going to get the generic bat regardless.

[Troo]

37 minutes ago, cejmp said:

Yes, but only a part.  If your character was named Frederick Strange instead of Stephen Strange, you have an homage to a phsyican that lived in the 1800's. Or one that lived in Canada. 

 

Dr Strange in and of itself is only a part of the trademark. 

I do agree in concept.

Hopefully folks understand addressing high profile names could be the simplest / lowest impact method. To new characters it will be the same as if a name was already taken.

Besides, it's not like the characters will get deleted. A relatively small number of characters will win rename tokens while keeping their levels and inventory.

 

Edited September 26, 2019 by Troo
grammar

[Menelruin]

What if I get permission from the owner/creator of a copyrighted character?

[Widower]

13 minutes ago, Menelruin said:

What if I get permission from the owner/creator of a copyrighted character?

Send it to us (or better yet, have them send it to us, if they're so inclined) and we'll make a note of it somewhere.

[Tachstar]

These are the only three of mine that I think might possibly be affected, with the one in the middle -- Wolveringo -- being in my mind the most likely.  His origin story begins, "In the town where I was born lived a man whose name was Bub..." 

 

Does anyone recognize the other two?  I'm calling them Electromagna (invuln/electric tanker) and Red Punch (kin/nin scrapper).   So far as I've been able to determine, they don't have names. 

 

Oh, yeah, almost forgot.  I also have a catgirl named M'ree (ff/beam rifle defender) who looks more like a Caitian than the Caitians in STO, which have human legs.  Ridiculous!  See also:  free the Horta!  Ahem.  So, anyway, maybe that one, too?  Oh, and probably Nightmare Chef, even though I never play him. 

[Obsidius]

8 hours ago, GM Widower said:

I would remind everyone that they should remain civil and not assume others are intending to ruin anything.

At first glance of my previous post, it may have looked like I was being critical of GM Capocolla, which could hardly be farther from the truth; apologies for not making my criticism clearer.

[SaintD]

On 9/25/2019 at 10:21 AM, Ironblade said:

Nope.  Because he is also, indisputably, a mythological figure that predates Marvel.

Thor had a major appearance in the Sandman comics.  He was a red-headed, drunken lout.  He looked and acted nothing like the Marvel character.  That's 100% legit and nothing Marvel can do about it.

Yeah, Marvel own THAT RENDITION of Thor. If your Thor looks (since sounds and acts aren't much relevant here) anything like Marvels version of the character, it's illegal. They don't own the name of Thor, it's the real world name of a mythological figure (and an actually used name for people), so anyone can have a Thor. They don't own the many other potential appearances Thor may take, and in fact Marvel's Thor having blonde hair instead of the red he SHOULD have is probably a great way for them to have a strong and maintainable ownership of THEIR Thor. You just can't have Marvel's Thor.

People always act as if this is somehow difficult to understand. It isn't. The problem is they actually want to make Marvel's Thor and refuse to accept that reality, then start doublethinking themselves.

[SaintD]

5 hours ago, cejmp said:

You could make a Dr. Strange costume and call him something other than Dr. Strange.

No you bloody couldn't. Although names can have a great degree of nuance because they're names and we've been using them for much of human history so they're hard to nail down as a unique, protected trademark or copyright, sheer likeness is definitely the strongest part of trademarks and copyrights like this. Dr Strange has an EXTREMELY distinctive appearance you couldn't possibly argue is generic enough to copy and use like that. Parody characters always have a studiously altered appearance for a reason. You CANNOT simply use the distinctive appearance of a character and argue "But I named him something else!"

You can make a bald dude in a suit with mental powers because 'bald and wearing a suit' is so generic that Marvel's attempt to claim it would last as long as it took the judge to finish laughing. You can't make anything like Dr Strange's outfit because.....look at it! He's the only person who ever wore something like that! Yeah, big yellow shovellin' gloves with blue robes and red capes was THE THING.....uh.....never.