Dota trademark: Blizzard, Valve respond

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 22 August, 2011

Blizzard DOTA may launch with a new name.

Blizzard has vowed not to let Valve's trademark of the name Dota hold up the launch of its own DOTA mod for StarCraft 2.

It is prepared to change the name of the mod rather than see the game delayed as a result of a trademark dispute, Blizzard Executive Vice President, Product Development and Co-Founder Frank Pearce told Eurogamer.

Last year Blizzard game design boss Rob Pardo told Eurogamer Valve's attempt to trademark DOTA "doesn't seem the right thing to do".

Pardo said Blizzard was confused by Valve's move and believed it had the right to use the term in the name of its free StarCraft II mod, Blizzard DOTA.

DOTA refers to the hugely popular online gametype born of the famous Warcraft 3 mod, Defense of the Ancients, and maintained by the elusive IceFrog.

Valve is currently developing Dota 2 for its Source engine, with IceFrog's help, after employing some of the DOTA mod development community.

At Gamescom, where Valve unveiled Dota 2 via an invitation-only tournament, Pearce reiterated Blizzard's stance on the issue.

"From my perspective, DOTA is a genre in this space, at this point, and almost a sub genre of the real-time strategy space," he said. "It doesn't seem like something someone would want to trademark, but the US legal system lets people do just about anything they want to try."

If Blizzard goes ahead with its planned launch of Blizzard DOTA near on at the release of StarCraft 2 expansion Heart of the Swarm, expected some time next year, will Valve object?

"That's a really good question," Pearce replied. "I don't know the answer to that. Hopefully not."

"I can't speak to it from a legal perspective. From the development team and the leadership at Blizzard, we want to make great games and we want to get those great games into the hands of our fans.

"At the end of the day, the name and the label we put on that mod for StarCraft 2 is not as critical as the gameplay experience we create and deliver to the fans. We will not hold back the experience from the fans because of a naming conflict. We'll find a way to get it into the hands of our fans either way.

"I don't think it's critical [to have the name DOTA] to delivering that experience to the fans, personally."

Now, for the first time, Valve has explained why it has trademarked the Dota name.

"The issue with that was, when we were talking with IceFrog originally, he wanted to build the sequel to DOTA," Valve boss Gabe Newell told Eurogamer. "So the reason to call it Dota 2 is it actually does a pretty good job of communicating to gamers what it is the game is going to be.

"If a gamer looks at this game and you ask them, is that Dota 2? They're going to say yeah, that makes sense. That's a good name for it. That's really what's driving that."

Newell, who has played Dota 2 for a whopping 800 hours already, denied Pardo's accusation that Valve's trademark takes Dota away from the community that built it.

"The community is usually pretty unambiguous in their opinions about stuff, so, now they've had a chance to see the game they're going to tell us pretty clearly whether they think it's an appropriate name for it," he said.

"I haven't had any customers or gamers react negatively to it. They seem to be pretty comfortable with it."

Does Newell anticipate any trademark dispute when both games launch next year?

"I don't know," he replied. "That's really not my domain. I'm sure there will be a bunch of nattering back and forth, but I'm more concerned about the game than anything else."

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (38) Latest comment 7 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • ubergine #1 9 months ago

    I totally just posted this in the other article:

    I've been having a protracted argument about whether Valve/Steam are actually cunts or not. Doesn't their making a sequel to a mod of someone else's game (DOTA 2) qualify as a majorly cuntish thing to do?
    Edited by ubergine at 22/08/11 @ 13:22

  • Erinan #2 9 months ago

    They should settle this over on League of Legends, mano a mano (well, the online sort).

  • ubergine #3 9 months ago

    Quake III I think.

  • Arsecake_Baker #4 9 months ago

    "On second thoughts, let's not call it DOTA. It is a silly name"

  • ubergine #5 9 months ago

    It's only a mod(el)

  • the_dudefather #6 9 months ago

    Wonder who will have the Edge(tm) in court?

  • TruSmiles #7 9 months ago

    I feel somewhat uncomfortable with this whole thing. It almost feels like Valve stole the game from Blizzard, even though it was created by the community and that community is now with Valve anyway. It seems rather complicated.

  • Shinetop #8 9 months ago

    Doesn't their making a sequel to a mod of someone else's game (DOTA 2) qualify as a majorly cuntish thing to do?

    Not really. The mod is the game, the game it's a mod for is basically just a tool.

  • bobfish09 #9 9 months ago

    @ubergine

    The guy making DOTA2 is the same guy that made DOTA, why shouldn't he have the trademark?

    The game it is made on is irrelevant, the mod is the important thing here.

  • Steve2911 #10 9 months ago

    Personally I think Blizzard is trying to take credit for the success of DotA. They're talking as if the game or genre wouldn't have been possible without the WC3 community, which is a possibility, but there's nothing to say that the genre wouldn't have come about on its own.

    I think it's ridiculous to try to take away the rights to the name of the product that IceFrog created and maintains. It's HIS work that should get the DotA label, not Blizzard's.

  • LazyDan #11 9 months ago

    It does seem weird. It'd be like Counterstrike being a Blizzard game after having been a Half-Life mod. Ultimately though, I guess the game belongs to IceFrog and he's with Valve, so it makes sense on that level.

  • login_name #12 9 months ago

    I have no problem with what Valve are doing. The mod community, or at least some of them, are now Valve. It's their game, not Blizzards. If Bliz didn't want to invest in the community, the way Valve have done many times, it's their hard luck.

  • arcam #13 9 months ago

    @ubergine

    Same thing as TF2 - Valve making a sequel to a mod of someone else's game (Team Fortress was a Quake mod). I don't think there's much wrong with that myself.

  • butler` #14 9 months ago

    I still think it's a douche move from Valve. But they just cashed in on Blizzard's missed opportunity. Even if they didn't have the scope/resource/will to develop a DOTA game, they could have ™ it.

  • Bravestinsane #15 9 months ago

    TBH, i havn't played it, but it sounds like sour grapes on blizzards part.

    If the person who originally developed the mod went to valve to create a sequel to his own creation good on him.

    To me it seems that blizzard are pissed,

    YES the mod was made on their game
    NO they didn't make the mod

    the original creator over rules in my mind.

    I don't see valves as theifs or anything, at the end of the day a talented community member created a good mod, valve snapped them up, blizzard didn't bother, they could of, it sounds to me blizzard jumped on the band wagon and tried to get a mod out after Valve announced DOTA 2 after the acquiring the community member.

    As far as im concerned, even if legally Blizzard owns the mod, they didn't make it.

  • bikmate #16 9 months ago

    So is DOTA like Demigod, except DOTA got picked up while Demigod was left to be forgotten?

  • sonicyoda #17 9 months ago

    This is one of the most confusing things I've ever read.

  • schnide #18 9 months ago

    Defense Of The Trademark.

  • Subdominator #19 9 months ago

    Newell, who has played Dota 2 for a whopping 800 hours already

    fanboy alert

  • Lemming81 #20 9 months ago

    Crucially, I think it comes down to whether you are actually defending Ancients in the game or not.

  • marmaduke #21 9 months ago

    It sounds like Blizzard's only defence here is Blizzard fanboyism. They didn't do anything to help the original DOTA, so why should they 'own' it? Valve, on the other hand, directly employed some of the mod makers and let them do their thing- so I think it's Valve who are being the nice guys here.

  • Vyggo #22 9 months ago

    Funny how history is so easily rewritten... Icefrog didn't create this mod, he just maintained it for a long time.

  • hiddenranbir #23 9 months ago

    Weird how IceFrog is considered the creator/owner. If I recall the one that made DOTA Allstars (the one that all got love over) was some guy now working on LoL.

  • Steve2911 #24 9 months ago

    @bikmate - Demigod was just one of the DotA clones that sprouted around that time.
    @Vyggo - He may not have been the one to come up with it, but he's certainly the one who stuck around to nurture and develop it when everyone else jumped ship when they decided to monetise. He has more claim over it than anyone for his dedication alone.

  • thedaveeyres #25 9 months ago

    But what does Notch think?

  • soviet_ #26 9 months ago

    Looks like Blizzard are a bit annoyed over the fact it could've been them holding "The International" and generating huge amounts of hype. How many years did they have to build on the success of the W3 mod?

    Having never played an action RTS or whatever you call it, all I care about is the fact that Valve are releasing a new game and having watched a massive tournament over the weekend it looks like fun

  • a8a #27 9 months ago

    I don't think anyone has the moral high ground to trademark DotA tbh.

    The original creator (Eul) didn't maintain it. Technically the name is his creation, but he wasnt really involved for long. He in turn took inspiration from an old Starcraft custom map called Aeon of Strife.

    Guinsoo created DotA Allstars, the popular modern variant that came out after Eul stopped maintaining it. This was when DotA really hit the big time, so Guinsoo could be said to have a claim to its success, but neither the name nor the game could be said to be originally his creations.

    The community that developed around DotA is often credited collectively with its success, such as by Valve above, which is convenient because they are unable to litigate. This was centred around the DotA-Allstars.com website created by Pendragon. I really don't think anyone could claim credit for creating a community based around someone else's game, and I doubt he would lay claim to DotA as a name, but he's in for completion.

    Both Guinsoo and Pendragon now make League of Legends.

    IceFrog took over from Guinsoo on version 6. He maintained DotA Allstars for a long time, and made a lot of changes and additions to the roster. Does that entitle him to the name? He put a lot of work in, sure, but the game was never 'his'. He inherited the position of maintaining it, not the ownership of it.

    Blizzard - well, it was based on their platform, used their assets, and some of their IP. But it certainly couldn't be considered their game or their name. "The Ancients" of the name refer to an element of Warcraft lore, of course, which makes it ironic that another company should trademark it, but I doubt it provides them with a basis for ownership, legal or otherwise.

    As for Valve, given that none of the other parties involved have a clear claim on the name, I think it's a bit of a dick move to trademark it. Especially considering that other DotA-type games went with completely new names, regardless of who their developers were. The very fact that the games are generally thought of as DotA games (rather than the more correct "MOBA"s) suggests that it is more of a genre title. Calling your game DOTA 2 is a PR move, an assertion that while other games have branched off, yours is the main trunk, the true continuation. And that is something which should really be judged by the community response, rather than the developer.

  • paulf #28 9 months ago

    Good job it wasn't called Defence of the Scrolls

  • cw- #29 9 months ago

    Spot on a8a, and very informative +9812371928371923871293

  • Spekingur #30 9 months ago

    I shall trademark RTS for my upcoming real time strategy game!

  • SpaceMidget75 Verified Senior Software Developer, Minerva Computer Services #31 9 months ago

    "Newell, who has played Dota 2 for a whopping 800 hours already"

    Bollocks

  • Jon1292 #32 9 months ago

    Don't mess with Valve.

    They'll get Gabe to sit on your face.

  • Toothball #33 9 months ago

    @thedaveeyres

    Notch probably thinks that he could beat you at Quake 3.

  • Gao #34 9 months ago

    But icefrog shouldn't get the name anyway as he didn't create the game! Eul created DOTA. And DOTA Allstars was created by Guinsoo. Icefrog only took over the development when Guinsoo gave up on it. Icefrog should name his game something new. DOTA should not be trade marked by either valve or blizzard as it should stay as community property. If some random modder had trademarked it everybody would be moaning about it.

  • Twin_snakes #35 9 months ago

    Why don't they just ask Valve to licence the name? I'm sure they wouldn't mind with it generating some free hype for their game an' all.

  • swills #36 9 months ago

    "Newell, who has played Dota 2 for a whopping 800 hours already"

    Get some f'ing work done mate! No wonder we don't have HL3 yet. tsk.

  • Vyggo #37 9 months ago

    Valve has done good in creating a loyal userbase. Every tiny thing the other publishers do gets measured exhaustively on the big greed-o-meter, but Valve can seemingly do no wrong.

  • One_Man #38 7 months ago

    Let me first say, I made an account just to post this and that I'm a huge fan(fan, not fanboy) of Blizzard. Prepare to be shocked.

    What Blizzard is completely ignorant of is how DotA is not a genre as they "perceive" it, rather it is a title, the title of the one that began it all(next to Aeons of Strife). Let's say 007 was the first FPS game. Does the company have the right to trademark 007? Yes.

    DotA was the first big successful MOBA - Multiplayer Online Battle Arena.
    Now, the argument of who's the creator of this mod, it was Eul. Eul left it to Guinsoo who turned it into DotA AllStars and then came along IceFrog who was left to work on it himself. IceFrog would then on be the owner of the Warcraft III mod. That is not up for debate.

    Eul and Guinsoo worked on the project for about a year. IceFrog developed the game for 6 to 7 years, with help of the testers. IceFrog rightfully claimed the DotA Trademark, he deserves it, he deserves respect.

    Blizzard gave building blocks to the people, Eul and Guinsoo built the town, but IceFrog transcended that, he built the city. IceFrog created the DotA we all know today. Should Valve be taking part of this trademark? Well, that's purely up to IceFrog.

    From IceFrog's perspective, he probably feels Valve deserves it more than Blizzard. Valve's employees took interest in DotA, a lot of them play it on a regular basis while Blizzard didn't even give it a glance. Blizzard now sees how huge DotA really is. Now they're bitter about the fact they missed an incredible opportunity. Regardless of what the ToS may have stated when using the Map Editor, Blizzard did in no way create, develop, or help DotA. They have no right to take another person's(s') work.

    As a fan of Blizzard's games, I hope they do keep on creating great games. I've played the Warcrafts, Warcraft III being my favorite(Modded and unmodded). World of Warcraft, although a great MMORPG, it's possibly the most overrated. Starcraft, the theme isn't really in my taste but still a very well-made game. I'm not interested in the Diablo series but I am considering buying the 3rd Diablo as it does seem to kick some major ass.