Marvel sues NCsoft over City of Heroes

By Games Industry.biz Published 15 November, 2004

Lawsuit against NCsoft raises concerns over legal status of player-created content.

Comic book giant Marvel has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Korean publisher NCsoft, alleging that players in the firm's MMORPG City of Heroes are creating characters in the likeness of Marvel heroes.

The lawsuit names both NCsoft and developer Cryptic Studios, and singles out player characters which, Marvel claims, are almost identical to its Wolverine and Hulk characters.

If Marvel is successful with its day in court, the repercussions for the videogame industry are potentially severe, as this is the first time that a publisher has been sued over content created by its customers in a game, and as such it would set a worrying legal precedent.

It could lead to publishers being forced to severely restrict the functionality of character customisation tools and other game modification tools to avoid similar lawsuits in future.

Marvel itself has been very successful in licensing its comic franchises - such as X-Men and Spider-Man 2 - into the videogame market, and some in the industry have suggested that its lawsuit against NCsoft has more to do with a planned Marvel superheroes MMORPG than it does with genuine copyright infringement concerns.

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Comments (18) Latest comment 7 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • sharpkiddie Verified Lead Developer, Eurogamer Network #1 7 years ago

    Jeez. Boycott Marvel I say. This is terrible. I will never shovel 10p's into the X-Men game on Brighton Pier ever again :)

  • Kronos #2 7 years ago

    They'd better sue makers of pens and paper as well as these potentially allow people to draw likenesses of their characters also.

    They're getting as bad as Fox with its Alien protection.
    Edited by 1 at 15/11/04 @ 10:39

  • Blerk #3 7 years ago

    Miserable gets.

  • MetalDog #4 7 years ago

    There's a tendancy amongst the people who have 'been inspired' by other people's work the most to be the most litigious mothers when it comes to 'defending their work'.

  • luisalis #5 7 years ago

    This is ridiculous, but after the recent disastrous settlements over music sampling in the US, I wouldn't be surprised if Marvel gets away. I hope not, sincerely.

  • Teeth #6 7 years ago

    http://www.pvponline.com/archive.php3?archive=20041112

  • masterson #7 7 years ago

    "Marvel itself has been very successful in licensing its comic franchises "

    Financially perhaps, but they've all been shite. With the Sims 2's bodyshop it's possible to create a likeness of just about anyone, let's all sue Maxis/EA shall we? Marvel has a much chance of winning this as a chimpanzee does of being elected "leader of the free world". Oh, hang on...

  • spindizzy #8 7 years ago

    Wasn't there supposed to be a marvel game, very much along the same lines as CoH? I suspect this is what's motivating them. I *hope* they have no case though.

  • El_MUERkO #9 7 years ago

    Marvel = twats for this IMO

  • Spanky #10 7 years ago

    This isn't a new attitude from marvel they've been bullying devs and other comic companies for decades. The problem is that very few companies can afford to go to court against Marvel, they have to get on there knees and suck in order to come through it, and when they do we have no respect for them, dirty bitches. Eitherway Marvel win, for City of Heroes that's a bad thing, it'll either go down the swanney or have to be rejigged heavily with lots of Marvel pushed advertising etc.

  • tengu #11 7 years ago

    Marvel are a bunch of greedy twats. Do you see DC suing these guys? NO! (Although AOL is one of DC's parent companies, so THEY make some money out of people who play COH online at least).

    Marvel has let the quality of their comic books slide recently, and the last time they did that, they nearly went bankrupt. Perhaps they're suing COH so they can set up a nice redundancy fund for Marvel's board of director's for the next bankruptcy scare.

    Pricks.

  • silver-jon #12 7 years ago

    I've written via their website to point out that if they continue with this action I'll simply boycott any Marvel games. And I don't even own City of Heroes. I just think it's a shitty direction for them to take.

    Consumer power. On my own, it's not much of a whisper in the dark. But with the help of others it could become a shout. Fancy giving them feedback directly instead of here ?

  • Corben_Dallas #13 7 years ago

    THose twats @ Marvel They want to stop u desiging your own Individual Hero. Surely Nc Soft could use the fifth ammendment. Free Speach Freedom to design yur own Spandex wearing Hero......its the American way!!!!!!........or not.

    Maybe the American way is to sue the ass off everyone :|
    Edited by 1 at 15/11/04 @ 16:01

  • spindizzy #14 7 years ago

    Hmm. I initially read the above post as "free peach". I wouldn't mind a free peach right now ... I'm right peckish I am. ;-)

    Incidentally Corben Dallas, *what* exactly did you edit about your post? It's still got a frankly impressive number of typos and so on. What was the one that was just too much to bear?

    (Okay, I'll stop being nasty now since I agree with you ;-)

  • Khab #15 7 years ago

    Free Speech is the First Amendment. The Fifth is about not being used as a witness against yourself ("right to remain silent on the grounds that it may incriminate me", you know the drill).

  • spindizzy #16 7 years ago

    Yes, but what about the free peach? Where's the free peach?

  • 3william56 #17 7 years ago

    It's a publicity stunt - and just before the Spidey 2 DVD release, by a stunning coincidence.

    If Kazaa can get away with a system that's essentially specifically designed to facilitate ripping off copyright material, Marvel has no chance against CoH which isn't, particularly as the players aren't using the copyrighted image for profit.

    If Marvel were actually serious about protecting the character, they'd easily be able to ask the specific player to cease and desist, and get CoH to block the avatar.

  • masterson #18 7 years ago

    "It's a publicity stunt - and just before the Spidey 2 DVD release, by a stunning coincidence. "

    Wow, you should get a job in marketing. What fantastic publicity the previously unheard of "Marvel" must be getting by pissing off a bunch of their core fanbase. I feel strangely compelled to buy this "Spiderman 2 DVD" you speak of...