Blizzard Opposes Valve's Use of DOTA Trademark

The battle of the DOTA projects has begun.

  February 10, 2012

Blizzard has filed court documents to challenge Valve's use of the name Dota.

The "Defense of the Ancients" name was first used in a popular mod of Warcraft III back in 2003. In late 2010, Valve announced that it was working on a sequel to the mod, despite the fact that the original game stemmed from Warcraft, a property owned by Blizzard. IceFrog, a developer of the original mod, is now a Valve employee working on Dota 2.

Blizzard announced its own project, called Blizzard DOTA, as a mod for Starcraft II around the same time. Until now it has never legally opposed Valve's use of the same name.

Dota 2 Bloodseeker Profile

In court documents unearthed by members of the NeoGAF forums, Blizzard writes that "Valve Corporation 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."

Interestingly, Valve's game is "Dota 2" rather than "DOTA," seemingly avoiding the acronym used by Blizzard. The court documents note that "it is well-known and understood among players of the DotA Mods that the DOTA Marks refer to Blizzard's well-known characters 'the Ancients.'" However, by not using an acronym, Valve has technically avoided referring to The Ancients at all.

Blizzard DOTA in Action

Blizzard concludes that "Valve has never released, distributed, or sold any products using the mark Dota, or, for that matter, any of the Dota Marks. Valve did not coin the Dota mark and has never participated in the creation of the Dota Mods. Indeed, Valve has never released, distributed, or sold any products using any title that might conceivably be shortened to the acronym Dota. If Valve is granted registration of the Dota mark, it would obtain a prima facie exclusive right to use of its mark that would cause damage and injury to Blizzard."

Court documents note a timeline for the legal proceedings stretching well into 2013. No release date has been announced for Blizzard DOTA or Dota 2, and it's not clear if Blizzard's challenge will affect the timing of either project.

Source: Gamasutra