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I think another part of it is that it is unclear as to what might be copyrighted or trademarked with that character and who might have such a claim. Marvel has a Hercules, DC has a Hercules, Disney has a Hercules, there have been multiple other Hercules characters in comics and similar media over the years.|
Originally Posted by Red_Raccoon
Well, if he actually had his Hercules approved, then good for him. Maybe going straight to customer support for a ruling was a good move. Or maybe he was just lucky. I remember some time ago a player complained that his "Thor" was genericized even though his character was closely based on norse mythology rather than the marvel comic hero. I think any time you choose a name that is already is use in a published work, you have to assume there is a certain risk it will be genericized no matter how strong a case you have that you are not violating any copyright or trademark. The GMs are not experts in the finer points of copyright law and are going to tend to play it safe when making a call.
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For example, I think the Marvel trademark was for The Incredible Hercules.
Of course, Thor has been a character for Marvel, DC, Comico and other comic publishers.
One could reasonably make a case if the Thor character was based strictly on mythology and his depictions there but they might have to have the case escalated and present a good argument to the Senior GM. Even then, they might decide to err on the side of caution.
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
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Yeah..well the global change was a long shot I can accept a no. But felt i should make sure/ask anyway.|
Originally Posted by Texas Justice
If you report yourself, it varies as to how the CS people will handle it. In some cases they will realize that it was an inadvertant violation and change it if they feel it violates the IP policy. In some cases they may determine that it doesn't violate the IP policy and their decision in that case may be either to do nothing or to go ahead and issue a rename.
You get one free global chat handle change as it is. Unless you've used it already, you should be able to change it yourself. We've been told in the past that once it is used you cannot get another. I do know of one player that was able to get his reverted due to his child accidentally changing it to a random string of characters while playing at the keyboard. Customer Service was really nice by doing that one. We were given a free global handle change in the summer of 2006 and even if you'd already used your one allowed change you were granted another. There was a problem with the global chat system later that suffered some instability and caused players global handles to change. I'm not sure if they were allowed to get a rename or not. As for the forum name change, that has to be done by the OCR team (Z, Hit Streak, Freitag). Customer service can't do that. |
The forum change well I sent that to Z.. he will get to it when he gets to it..Though i was not aware of the other names i may send one to them as well I know Z is busy!
My point was that either..the GMs are not as strict as one may think or that there is some room for play..maybe..
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As far as I can tell, IP infringement rules do not apply to global names. Presumably because it's 'behind the scenes' and not a character name. If it were a character name, it would get generic'ed but they would not change your global also.
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Originally Posted by Alpha-Six
Petitioned to have my global handle changed explaining that it might be a CP violation.. that was a no go..
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Paragon City Search And Rescue
The Mentor Project
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Which is all the more reason for the GMs not to get into the whole headache of trying to figure out how the copyright laws apply to a specific player-created character. Especially when you consider that a quick trip to the tailor and a quick edit of a character's description can easilly turn "Public Domain Hercules" into a copycat "Marvel Hercules." It's much simplier and safer to simply not allow it. |
Originally Posted by Texas Justice
I think another part of it is that it is unclear as to what might be copyrighted or trademarked with that character and who might have such a claim. Marvel has a Hercules, DC has a Hercules, Disney has a Hercules, there have been multiple other Hercules characters in comics and similar media over the years.
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I know some players think their parady characters are okay because parody is a stated exception to copyright law--and that argument would probably hold up in a court of law. But this isn't a court of law, it's the court of the CoH DMs, and they're not going to spend a lot of time trying to decide if something falls under the paradoy clause or not--if it looks questionable, they're going to squash it, not take it to the company lawyers and have them review it.
That's why I think the guy who got his Hercules approved by CS was probably the exception, while the guy whose Thor was genericized is more likely the rule. As for the guy who had his Havok, Tombstone, et al genericized, that's even more in keeping with CoH policy, as I don't believe there's any Public Domain argument to back those up in the first place.
Recently I discovered that Alpha 6 is a character in Power Rangers, which made me sad because well i really HATE power rangers. So i went ahead and just re-rolled my main (even though she was incarnated, bots/pain is.. blah) to Bots/traps gave her a awesome new name Athena Six...
Petitioned to have my global handle changed explaining that it might be a CP violation.. that was a no go..Requested a forum name change I think that is still pending.
You get one free global chat handle change as it is. Unless you've used it already, you should be able to change it yourself. We've been told in the past that once it is used you cannot get another. I do know of one player that was able to get his reverted due to his child accidentally changing it to a random string of characters while playing at the keyboard. Customer Service was really nice by doing that one.
We were given a free global handle change in the summer of 2006 and even if you'd already used your one allowed change you were granted another.
There was a problem with the global chat system later that suffered some instability and caused players global handles to change. I'm not sure if they were allowed to get a rename or not.
As for the forum name change, that has to be done by the OCR team (Z, Hit Streak, Freitag). Customer service can't do that.
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.