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DC Comics (thanks to Time Warner) and Marvel Comics (thanks to Disney) have much deeper wallets than Comico or Dark Horse comics.|
Originally Posted by Lost Ninja
Came up with a concept for a character and tried to create it however the name is coming up as invalid (TBH I expected it to be taken). Question is not what does this mean, but why is a name from classical Greek Legend invalid?
I can see she is also a character in the Sandman comics, but how do a comic publisher copyright a character that has been in the public domain for thousands of years? Further more if they can. How come other legendary characters that have also been 'stolen' by comic writers are allowed... some even used in the game? Eg Grendel |
It is in NCSoft's best interest to avoid any chance of a lawsuit funded by Disney or Time Warner money, so names used by characters appearing in comics by a subsidiary of either mega-corporation are strictly verboten.
New story arcs coming soon (ARC IDs will be aded when I finish the arc):
So, you want to join the Hellions? (level 1-14 Villainous arc)
Sparks & Steel (level 5-20 Heroic arc)
and
So you want to join the Skulls? (level 1-14 Villainous arc)
Yeah, it wouldn't let me make Joe Stalin either. Presumably because he was one of the most prolific murderers of the 20th century, not because DC or Marvel have trademarked him, admittedly, but still.
Aye, it's likely that NCSoft/Paragon is just covering their behinds..
Don't get upset with them though, get upset at all the sue-happy corporate *******.
Sadly the UK has been influenced to become a more litigious society also. We were fine before the 80's. Now with health and safety and the age of the solicitor everybody is a chancer. I wonder how long Google will get away with copying literature also.
Below is the section of the EULA that addresses this topic.
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| You may not select as your Character Name the name of another person, or a name which violates any third party's trademark right, copyright, or other proprietary right, or which may mislead other players to believe you to be an employee of NC Interactive, or which NC Interactive deems at its sole discretion to be vulgar or otherwise offensive. |
According to the above rules of the EULA we aren't allowed to use
1. Peoples names, meaning famous people.
2. A third parties Trademark, Copyright, or other IP right.
3. Anything being used officially by an NCSoft employee.
4. Anything vulgar or offensive.
I'm not saying I agree or disagree with it, just providing the info so the OP is aware of what is and isn't allowed.
Oh and it doesn't matter how long a person has had a character name. It can be genericed at any time. If you had a character name that isn't allowed for a while it just means you managed to stay under the radar for that long without getting brought to a GM's attention. It doesn't mean you have a right to keep the name.
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Originally Posted by Primantiss
Aye, it's likely that NCSoft/Paragon is just covering their behinds..
Don't get upset with them though, get upset at all the sue-happy corporate *******. |
/This.
They don't copyright the name - they trademark it in the comic medium. Now, there are still ways to use such names, but NCSoft takes the "Better safe than sorry" route.
Orc&Pie No.53230 There is an orc, and somehow, he got a pie. And you are hungry.
www.repeat-offenders.net
Negaduck: I see you found the crumb. I knew you'd never notice the huge flag.
I'm not upset, little point in being upset. I found a better name then when that was taken I changed it to be similar but different. FTR: Originally wanted Eurydice because my character was a french opera singer who died while singing this role wanting revenge on the greek/roman gods for killing her character and her (yes I'm fudging my history/legends). When that was unavailable I decided on Psychosonic Cindy (name taken from the Transvision Vamp song. However that too is taken so I want with Psychosonic Barbie and went with a pink theme... 
Then finally got into the game, realised my costume didn't look quite as good as I had hoped, went to icon and met a wolverine clone (different name) in a SG called Marvels Heroes... which made me laugh... a little.
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I was well aware of this list, been playing for a long time (on and off). Thing is the original name isn't under copyright, yes a character with the same name is, but the name itself isn't. And while I understand NCSoft's standpoint on this it still annoys me.| 1. Peoples names, meaning famous people. |
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| 4. Anything vulgar or offensive. |
Just FYI, they've genericed lots of Barbie variants over the years. Don't get too attached.
"Null is as much an argument "for removing the cottage rule" as the moon being round is for buying tennis shoes." -Memphis Bill
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Invalid means it's violating certain special character rules, one per name and no underscores, spaces are free.|
Originally Posted by Lost Ninja
Came up with a concept for a character and tried to create it however the name is coming up as invalid (TBH I expected it to be taken). Question is not what does this mean, but why is a name from classical Greek Legend invalid?
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If the name is protected it will come up as 'Not available for use' instead. Same if it's a profanity.
Tyger (50), Mutation-Controller Mind/FF - oldest Mind/FF on Union
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Originally Posted by Dispari
I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.
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Which is why NCSoft's EULA mentions copyright and trademark rights separately as well as regular IP rights. They are protecting themselves and putting us on notice about using names, costumes, bio's, AE missions . . . the works.
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Originally Posted by Rajani Isa
They don't copyright the name - they trademark it in the comic medium.
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Just tested that name on a few servers, came up as already taken on all of them but Zukunft, which had it as available.
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Originally Posted by Lost Ninja
Originally wanted Eurydice...
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The US was fine before the 80s, too, really.
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Originally Posted by Kiss_n_Hell
Sadly the UK has been influenced to become a more litigious society also. We were fine before the 80's. Now with health and safety and the age of the solicitor everybody is a chancer. I wonder how long Google will get away with copying literature also.
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Virtue Server
Avatar art by Daggerpoint
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This is very odd, Defiant speciflcally says that the name is unavailable, yet when a name is already taken (as in the case of Psychosonic Cindy) it merely states that the name is in use. :/
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Originally Posted by Shadow State
Just tested that name on a few servers, came up as already taken on all of them but Zukunft, which had it as available.
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They aren't copyrighting them, they're trademarking their specific version of that character. |
Originally Posted by Lost Ninja
I can see she is also a character in the Sandman comics, but how do a comic publisher copyright a character that has been in the public domain for thousands of years?
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Example: Marvel Comics does not have Thor copyrighted, because they can't for the exact reason that the mythological entity known as Thor has existed for centuries.
They CAN, however, trademark the image of a long-haired blonde guy with a winged helmet, who wears a red cape and wields a hammer, who happens to be known as Thor.
If you want to use the character of Thor in a comic book, or a novel, or a movie, or a video game, Marvel can't do anything to stop you, so long as the character's description and/or appearance does not infringe on their trademarked version of that character.
The reason NCSoft does not allow us to create characters named Thor is because they are preventing us from infringing in Marvel's trademarked character, not because there is any copyright on the deity known as Thor.
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| Further more if they can. How come other legendary characters that have also been 'stolen' by comic writers are allowed... some even used in the game? Eg Grendel |
The developers and writers can use those characters in the game because they have full control over them. They can create versions of them to use in the game that are not infringing on anyone's trademark.
They don't have any such control over what the players do though. We are prevented from using those names simply because the developers can't control how we use those names. If Thor were an allowed name, sure, a lot of people would create characters true to the traditional version of him. But just as many (probably more) would rip off Marvel's version of Thor, thus infringing on Marvel's trademark.
The simplest solution is just disallowing any names that COULD be used to infringe a trademarked character, rather than having to decide on a case by case basis whether a character is in violation or not. Saves the GMs a ton of work.
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Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately. |
Came up with a concept for a character and tried to create it however the name is coming up as invalid (TBH I expected it to be taken). Question is not what does this mean, but why is a name from classical Greek Legend invalid?
I can see she is also a character in the Sandman comics, but how do a comic publisher copyright a character that has been in the public domain for thousands of years?
Further more if they can. How come other legendary characters that have also been 'stolen' by comic writers are allowed... some even used in the game? Eg Grendel