Blizzard and Valve in legal dispute over DOTA name

Posted February 10, 2012 by James Archer in Industry News, News.

It has been revealed Blizzard formally opposed Valve’s attempts to trademark the DOTA name, claiming it will damage both the company and “legions of fans”, and have been quietly disputing the matter since November.

Oh dear. NeoGAF user Drkirby has discovered that in November of last year, Blizzard filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to legally challenge Valve‘s hopes of securing the rights to the DOTA (Defence Of The Ancients) name. Although Valve are currently at work on DOTA 2, Blizzard created Warcraft III – of which the original DOTA was a mod. Therefore, according to Blizzard’s lawyers, “the DOTA mark has become firmly associated in the mind of consumers with Blizzard“. The opposition notice, which can be read in full here, goes on to say:

“In contrast to Blizzard, Applicant Valve Corporation (“Valve”) has never used the mark DOTA in connection with any product or service that currently is available to the public. By attempting to register the mark DOTA, Valve seeks to appropriate the more than seven years of goodwill that Blizzard has developed in the mark DOTA and in its Warcraft III computer game and take for itself a name that has come to signify the product of years of time and energy expended by Blizzard and by fans of Warcraft III. Valve has no right to the registration it seeks. If such registration is issued, it not only will damage Blizzard, but also the legions of Blizzard fans that have worked for years with Blizzard and its products, including by causing consumers to falsely believe that Valve’s products are affiliated, sponsored or endorsed by Blizzard and are related or connected to Warcraft III.“

Firstly, it’s worth pointing out that despite the document claiming the term ‘DOTA’ has been used “under license from Blizzard”, they have no technical ownership over the name, nor are they seeking it out (yet – the developers are working on their own DOTA-like, simply titled Blizzard DOTA). Still, this legal challenge represent a significant souring of Blizzard and Valve’s relationship, mere months after Blizzard president Mike Morhaime told the press that despite the naming dispute, the two companies were “very friendly“. What a shame.

BeefJack has you covered for more DOTA 2 and Blizzard DOTA news.

Tagged as blizzard, Blizzard DOTA, DOTA, DotA 2, Mike Morhaime, United States Patent and Trademark Office, Valve, Warcraft III