You do not build a successful MMO by attacking your own community like this. Just ask Blizzard.
BTW this company is the reason Blizzard blatantly ripped off Warhammer in the 90s. Blizzard was interested in making an RTS game based on the Warhammer franchise and these guys basically said "F*** off".
You do not build a successful MMO by attacking your own community like this. Just ask Blizzard.
BTW this company is the reason Blizzard blatantly ripped off Warhammer in the 90s. Blizzard was interested in making an RTS game based on the Warhammer franchise and these guys basically said "F*** off".
Heh, youd think they would have learned a little from that. They missed out on a buttfkload of money.
I dont understand. Can someone break it down to stupid level for me...........
From what I gathered Curse is making money off the fansite and that is 'against the rules' for fansites. On a more personal note, they may want the domain name for future projects but that's just a guess.
AmazingAveryAge of Conan AdvocateMemberUncommonPosts: 7,188
Originally posted by Talthanys
Sounds like they want to use the domain name.
-tal
Yes this, from the PDF:
B. Defendants' Use of the Trademark WARHAMMER ALLIANCE
and the Domain Name warhammeralliance.com
18. Upon information and belief, sometime in or about 2009 Defendants acquired the
Internet domain name warhammeralliance.com.
19. Defendants' domain name registration fails to provide accurate or complete
“whois” information for the subject domain name, and includes no contact information, but,
rather, is registered anonymously through an entity called “Domains By Proxy.” Upon
information and belief, said registration is maintained anonymously to conceal the identities of
Defendants.
20. Upon information and belief, Defendants knowingly provided incomplete or
materially false contact information in maintaining the registration for the
warhammeralliance.com domain name.
21. Defendants host a website at the URL warhammeralliance.com, which website
prominently displays the name and mark WARHAMMER ALLIANCE.
22. Defendants’ website at the URL warhammeralliance.com displays HTML links
featuring banner advertisements, and, upon information and belief, when Internet users click on
one or more of the displayed HTML advertisements at the warhammeralliance.com website,
Defendants receive payment from one or more advertisers, search engines, or affiliate programs.
23. Upon information and belief, many consumers of Plaintiffs’ WARHAMMER
products and services are members of and users of Defendants’ website, including many such
members and users in the State of Maryland.
24. On March 11, 2008, Defendant Quantam Equity applied to register the trade name
CURSE and the logo used by Defendants on the Warhammeralliance.com website.
25. Upon information and belief, Quantam Equity is affiliated with Defendants Curse
and Thieblot and is complicit with them in the conduct complained of herein.
26. The domain name warhammeralliance.com and the mark WARHAMMER
ALLIANCE incorporate in their entirety Plaintiff’s WARHAMMER trademark.
27. The domain name warhammeralliance.com and the mark WARHAMMER
ALLIANCE itself literally states and implies that Defendants and their business are in an
“alliance” with Plaintiff and its products and services offered under the WARHAMMER Marks.
Originally posted by Shoju Originally posted by Vagrant_Zero I'm completely lost now. Why would they sue a fansite?
Because Curse/Warhammer Alliance are making money off the Warhammer brand name through their premuim subscription service and advertising links and Games Workshop doesn't like that sort of thing.
Hm ya, after I made my post I went to WarhammerAlliance itself and read the thread. A lot of people just said what you said, and that makes a lot of sense.
If that is indeed the case, then by all means, sue away.
I've always disliked Curse for buying up fansites and turning them from...well...fansites...into businesses.
Can't say I'll QQ too hard if I see them get their due comeuppance.
It's a shame WAR's community is going to get caught in the crossfire though.
I'm completely lost now. Why would they sue a fansite?
Because Curse/Warhammer Alliance are making money off the Warhammer brand name through their premuim subscription service and advertising links and Games Workshop doesn't like that sort of thing.
Hm ya, after I made my post I went to WarhammerAlliance itself and read the thread. A lot of people just said what you said, and that makes a lot of sense.
If that is indeed the case, then by all means, sue away.
I've always disliked Curse for buying up fansites and turning them from...well...fansites...into businesses.
Can't say I'll QQ too hard if I see them get their due comeuppance.
It's a shame WAR's community is going to get caught in the crossfire though.
Most of you guys are new to Games-workshop right... They are very rabid when it comes to people using the warhammer name without proper "thumbs up" from GW. They have shut down fansites before andin all honesty they have the right to atleast force a change of name. And unlike THQ Curse i am sure have no licens deal with GW to use the Warhammer brand/name.
Its pretty common knowledge that GW have a history of pursuing IP complaints, most recently because of the financial troubles they got into (the store products would probably sell better if the prices didnt keep going north but thats another story)
The irony here is that if you look through any GW background fluff its full or stuff taken from other sources.....
Games Workshop are very, very, VERY unforgiving when it comes to their IPs. And considering how they have been stung before (WAR was not the first Warhammer MMO, btw), I don't really blame them. They've had to fight numerous copyright infringements in their history, such as a blatant rip-off abotu 10 years ago when a video game basically copied one of their book covers for a PC game. Where do you think a lot of the design style in Warcraft comes from?
I don't necessarily agree with all of their business practises, but they are, after all, a business. One that they must push forward in a very difficult market: hobby gaming. They are a little heavy-handed in my opinion. For example, even internet stores that legitamately sell their products thrid-party, are not allowed to use their own website's product images. They lack their own forums, etc etc.
But it's a business after all. If someone was messing around with your IP name, or was profitting from your IP, I bet all of you would do the same. Whatever it takes to protect your creation.
Some of the comments here are a bit silly. GW aren't suing Mythic, so why would they sue THQ?! You can't blame GW for doing this. Even if you don't agree, they're doing what they think is necessary to protect their business. And love or hate them, after 30 years, they are still the leading company when it comes to miniature gaming.
I'm with GW. Blizzard STOLE almost all of it's ideas from GW games. Where's the outcry over that? The only reason people played warcraft is because there was no Warhammer RTS and the only reason why anyone would deny it is because they are Blizzard fanboys who weren't even born when Warhammer was created. If you knew anything about GW or Warhammer you'd know that the name "Warhammer Alliance" Is trademarked and has been for years. Whatever these wow trolls might say out of their own retarded ignorance, war has gained players and wow has lost players. Stfu and play the ENDLESS trial before talking shit about things you know nothing about.
considering Warhammer IP "borrowed" just about everything from anything worth of remembering, i'd say this is silly as silly gets.
Erm..yes.. other sources like.. uh..Mythology! Clearly the old gods should sue GW for that.
Sure they didnt invent orcs nor elves, and quite some was simillar to dungeons and dragons, but GW world is vastly different from Wizards creations and personality of the races is what distincts it from other fantasy settings.
The law suite form my understanding of actually reading through the pdf is mostly about using the franchise name on a site that makes profit of it, so the complaint is perfectly valid and well within their rights.
No real need for tinfoil hats... As said it is all about a company not being GW making money of GW IP's. Blizzard have the same rules, as does pretty much every company out there.
People who believe this is a legitimate law suite are totally mad as far as I am concerned. It may well be within the bounds of the law for GW to try to protect the credibility of their IP, but in this case they are not doing that. Curse will approach this from several directions but they'll probably just go with this line:
Curse does not make profits off the Warhammer IP. Curse makes profits from offering services related to - but not directly based on - various IPs, such as addon download facilities, developer trackers, forum platforms and other such things; the use of these service in relation to the Warhammer IP are NOT restricted by NOT have a Curse Subscription. The Curse Subscription is implemented purely so that Curse may continue to provide unrestricted access to the services that they offer, and improve those services over time. Those profits are in no way based on the sale of restricted assets related to any of the IPs they provide services for (and that is the TRUTH). The art assets on the site are not owned by Games Workshop and have not been lifted from any material associated with Games Workshop. The use of the name, "Warhammer Alliance," is legitimate as the site provides AS IS services for Warhammer Online and the greater Warhammer franchise; the claim that the website is squatting is illegitimate due to the fact that relevant services are provided.
Sadly the whole, "making money," bit is a tad grey; the best Curse can hope for is that they make it not financially viable for GW to pursue them in a long-term Court Case, or that they can force GW into losing confidence in their case and reaching some kind of mutually beneficial out of court settlement (which is what is likely to happen).
Also whoever says GW sues often etc. did any of you know any game from Blizzard besides the lost vikings? Every Blizzard game is a collection of stolen ideas, mostly from GW.
Now GW is strugling while Blizzard doesnt know where to put the money (well a lot goes to lawyers sueing private people writing compendiums for WoW etc.)
The warhammer universe is the greatest fantasy and scifi world out there, GW should get much more money to expand that universe.
There is no right or wrong - There is only fun and boring.
because those that files suit own everything related to war not warhammer warammer just have a licence that can be ended when contract is finished .warhammer online isnt a big franchise compared to the whole warhammer franchise compared to some belief.dont know what really happened but we ll know soon!
Comments
You do not build a successful MMO by attacking your own community like this. Just ask Blizzard.
BTW this company is the reason Blizzard blatantly ripped off Warhammer in the 90s. Blizzard was interested in making an RTS game based on the Warhammer franchise and these guys basically said "F*** off".
Heh, youd think they would have learned a little from that. They missed out on a buttfkload of money.
I lol'd?
From what I gathered Curse is making money off the fansite and that is 'against the rules' for fansites. On a more personal note, they may want the domain name for future projects but that's just a guess.
Yes this, from the PDF:
B. Defendants' Use of the Trademark WARHAMMER ALLIANCE
and the Domain Name warhammeralliance.com
18. Upon information and belief, sometime in or about 2009 Defendants acquired the
Internet domain name warhammeralliance.com.
19. Defendants' domain name registration fails to provide accurate or complete
“whois” information for the subject domain name, and includes no contact information, but,
rather, is registered anonymously through an entity called “Domains By Proxy.” Upon
information and belief, said registration is maintained anonymously to conceal the identities of
Defendants.
20. Upon information and belief, Defendants knowingly provided incomplete or
materially false contact information in maintaining the registration for the
warhammeralliance.com domain name.
21. Defendants host a website at the URL warhammeralliance.com, which website
prominently displays the name and mark WARHAMMER ALLIANCE.
22. Defendants’ website at the URL warhammeralliance.com displays HTML links
featuring banner advertisements, and, upon information and belief, when Internet users click on
one or more of the displayed HTML advertisements at the warhammeralliance.com website,
Defendants receive payment from one or more advertisers, search engines, or affiliate programs.
23. Upon information and belief, many consumers of Plaintiffs’ WARHAMMER
products and services are members of and users of Defendants’ website, including many such
members and users in the State of Maryland.
24. On March 11, 2008, Defendant Quantam Equity applied to register the trade name
CURSE and the logo used by Defendants on the Warhammeralliance.com website.
25. Upon information and belief, Quantam Equity is affiliated with Defendants Curse
and Thieblot and is complicit with them in the conduct complained of herein.
26. The domain name warhammeralliance.com and the mark WARHAMMER
ALLIANCE incorporate in their entirety Plaintiff’s WARHAMMER trademark.
27. The domain name warhammeralliance.com and the mark WARHAMMER
ALLIANCE itself literally states and implies that Defendants and their business are in an
“alliance” with Plaintiff and its products and services offered under the WARHAMMER Marks.
----------------------------------------------------------
Every possible slating angle is used. They want the domain name bad.
Hm ya, after I made my post I went to WarhammerAlliance itself and read the thread. A lot of people just said what you said, and that makes a lot of sense.
If that is indeed the case, then by all means, sue away.
I've always disliked Curse for buying up fansites and turning them from...well...fansites...into businesses.
Can't say I'll QQ too hard if I see them get their due comeuppance.
It's a shame WAR's community is going to get caught in the crossfire though.
Alltern8 Blog | Star Wars Space Combat and The Old Republic | Cryptic Studios - A Pre Post-Mortem | Klingon Preview, STO's Monster Play
Maybe this is the first step in GW to rescure their I.P, shutting down the sites and finally the game and award it to another company...
RIP Orc Choppa
Who's next? THQ For using WH40k?
My thoughts as well
why? thq is legally paying for the license to use the wh40k brand
Most of you guys are new to Games-workshop right... They are very rabid when it comes to people using the warhammer name without proper "thumbs up" from GW. They have shut down fansites before andin all honesty they have the right to atleast force a change of name. And unlike THQ Curse i am sure have no licens deal with GW to use the Warhammer brand/name.
This have been a good conversation
Its pretty common knowledge that GW have a history of pursuing IP complaints, most recently because of the financial troubles they got into (the store products would probably sell better if the prices didnt keep going north but thats another story)
The irony here is that if you look through any GW background fluff its full or stuff taken from other sources.....
Games Workshop are very, very, VERY unforgiving when it comes to their IPs. And considering how they have been stung before (WAR was not the first Warhammer MMO, btw), I don't really blame them. They've had to fight numerous copyright infringements in their history, such as a blatant rip-off abotu 10 years ago when a video game basically copied one of their book covers for a PC game. Where do you think a lot of the design style in Warcraft comes from?
I don't necessarily agree with all of their business practises, but they are, after all, a business. One that they must push forward in a very difficult market: hobby gaming. They are a little heavy-handed in my opinion. For example, even internet stores that legitamately sell their products thrid-party, are not allowed to use their own website's product images. They lack their own forums, etc etc.
But it's a business after all. If someone was messing around with your IP name, or was profitting from your IP, I bet all of you would do the same. Whatever it takes to protect your creation.
Some of the comments here are a bit silly. GW aren't suing Mythic, so why would they sue THQ?! You can't blame GW for doing this. Even if you don't agree, they're doing what they think is necessary to protect their business. And love or hate them, after 30 years, they are still the leading company when it comes to miniature gaming.
Oops, few typos and bad grammar up there..
I'm with GW. Blizzard STOLE almost all of it's ideas from GW games. Where's the outcry over that? The only reason people played warcraft is because there was no Warhammer RTS and the only reason why anyone would deny it is because they are Blizzard fanboys who weren't even born when Warhammer was created. If you knew anything about GW or Warhammer you'd know that the name "Warhammer Alliance" Is trademarked and has been for years. Whatever these wow trolls might say out of their own retarded ignorance, war has gained players and wow has lost players. Stfu and play the ENDLESS trial before talking shit about things you know nothing about.
considering Warhammer IP "borrowed" just about everything from anything worth of remembering, i'd say this is silly as silly gets.
Erm..yes.. other sources like.. uh..Mythology! Clearly the old gods should sue GW for that.
Sure they didnt invent orcs nor elves, and quite some was simillar to dungeons and dragons, but GW world is vastly different from Wizards creations and personality of the races is what distincts it from other fantasy settings.
The law suite form my understanding of actually reading through the pdf is mostly about using the franchise name on a site that makes profit of it, so the complaint is perfectly valid and well within their rights.
They are only doing this because WAR is dying and running out of money.
Actually Blizzard may have a dog in this fight there has been a persistant rumor that Redpheonix is either working for or compensated by Blizzard.
No real need for tinfoil hats... As said it is all about a company not being GW making money of GW IP's. Blizzard have the same rules, as does pretty much every company out there.
This have been a good conversation
People who believe this is a legitimate law suite are totally mad as far as I am concerned. It may well be within the bounds of the law for GW to try to protect the credibility of their IP, but in this case they are not doing that. Curse will approach this from several directions but they'll probably just go with this line:
Curse does not make profits off the Warhammer IP. Curse makes profits from offering services related to - but not directly based on - various IPs, such as addon download facilities, developer trackers, forum platforms and other such things; the use of these service in relation to the Warhammer IP are NOT restricted by NOT have a Curse Subscription. The Curse Subscription is implemented purely so that Curse may continue to provide unrestricted access to the services that they offer, and improve those services over time. Those profits are in no way based on the sale of restricted assets related to any of the IPs they provide services for (and that is the TRUTH). The art assets on the site are not owned by Games Workshop and have not been lifted from any material associated with Games Workshop. The use of the name, "Warhammer Alliance," is legitimate as the site provides AS IS services for Warhammer Online and the greater Warhammer franchise; the claim that the website is squatting is illegitimate due to the fact that relevant services are provided.
Sadly the whole, "making money," bit is a tad grey; the best Curse can hope for is that they make it not financially viable for GW to pursue them in a long-term Court Case, or that they can force GW into losing confidence in their case and reaching some kind of mutually beneficial out of court settlement (which is what is likely to happen).
http://www.themmoquest.com - MMO commentary from an overly angry brit. OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED!
Screw Games Workshop, bunch of assholes.
Its their right to sue, so whats the matter?
Also whoever says GW sues often etc. did any of you know any game from Blizzard besides the lost vikings? Every Blizzard game is a collection of stolen ideas, mostly from GW.
Now GW is strugling while Blizzard doesnt know where to put the money (well a lot goes to lawyers sueing private people writing compendiums for WoW etc.)
The warhammer universe is the greatest fantasy and scifi world out there, GW should get much more money to expand that universe.
There is no right or wrong -
There is only fun and boring.
because those that files suit own everything related to war not warhammer warammer just have a licence that can be ended when contract is finished .warhammer online isnt a big franchise compared to the whole warhammer franchise compared to some belief.dont know what really happened but we ll know soon!
yep game workshop have the warhammer franchise and its a big monster way bigger then the puny warhammer online from myhtic(licenced)