Marvel, the force behind Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk and the
X-Men, filed suit in November 2004, over a design feature in the
game.
City of Heroes is set in the aftermath of an alien invasion on a
virtual world known as Paragon City, where villains and mutants
battle users in the guise of superheroes – guises that they design
themselves from a huge array of features, costumes, characteristics
and skills.
Marvel was concerned that this design feature allowed
subscribers to copy its comic book characters, thus infringing its
copyright and trade marks, and potentially affecting its ability to
license the characters into other video games.
It sued for damages and an injunction, on the grounds that the
characters, while developed by subscribers to the game, are created
on servers run by both NCSoft and Cryptic Studios. The suit ran
into some trouble in March, when Los Angeles Superior Court Judge R
Gary Klausner dismissed more than half the claims.
The firms have now settled, according to South Korean games
publisher NCsoft. Full details were not disclosed, but NCsoft has
revealed that no changes to the City of Heroes or City of Villains
character creation engine are required.
“The parties' settlement allows them all to continue to develop
and sell exciting and innovative products, but does not reduce the
players' ability to express their creativity in making and playing
original and exciting characters,” said the firm.
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