#240 "The record contains ample evidence that Eul, Guinsoo, and Icefrog were the
masterminds behind their respective versions of DotA and DotA Allstars. uCool concedes as
much with respect to Eul, admitting that he “created the [mod], the characters, their abilities
and themes, the rules, and named the game.” MPSJ at 12–13. Guinsoo and Icefrog are no
different, legally speaking."
"Under the Copyright Act, numerous versions of DotA and DotA Allstars are unitary
“works” that were “authored” by Eul, Guinsoo, or Icefrog.25 Both parties at times
acknowledge as much."
"Granted, Valve had to point to specific examples of infringement to plausibly allege
that uCool copied Dota 2. See Order on FMTD at 11; Cavalier v. Random House, Inc., 297
F.3d 815, 822 (9th Cir. 2002) (“To establish a successful copyright infringement claim, a
plaintiff must show that he or she owns the copyright and that [the] defendant copied
protected elements of the work.”). And it will need to do the same to make an effective case
at trial. But that evidentiary necessity does not chop up Valve’s purported copyrights in
various versions of DotA and DotA Allstars."
"1. Possibly Prohibited Commercial Use
uCool has now twice failed to argue that the ban prevented Eul and Icefrog from
validly assigning their rights to Valve."
"2. Eul’s Alleged Abandonment
uCool argues that, by making DotA “open source,” Eul abandoned any and all of his
rights in DotA as a matter of law. And indeed, a reasonable jury could
conclude that Eul’s 2004 online post was an “overt act” indicating complete abandonment.
It said, “Whoever wishes to release a version of DotA
may without my consent,” which might mean that anyone had permission to build their own
versions of DotA on any platform—and to sell their versions of Eul’s creation.
Or it might not. Eul’s post also asked “for a nod in the credits to your map.” That
suggests two things. First, the request for a “nod” suggests that Eul wanted credit for
creating DotA even after open-sourcing it, which cuts against abandonment. Second, and
more importantly, the reference to a “map”—a synonym for “mod”—suggests that the post
was in fact a limited license. Although Eul intended to let others build further DotA mods
using the World Editor, he might not have intended to let them build stand-alone DotA games for sale. (holding, in a copyright case about video
game mods, that “abandoning some rights is not the same as abandoning all rights).
"What is more, a reasonable jury could also
conclude that the word “whoever” referred only to the motley group of modders making up
an informal DotA online community.
Eul’s post, in other words, was aimed only at fellow
teenagers building fantasy worlds for fun—not companies exploiting them for financial gain.
So uCool was arguably no licensee at all."
"3. Icefrog’s Alleged Assignment to S2
uCool also argues that S2, not Valve, owns the copyrights for three-years’ worth of
Icefrog’s versions of DotA Allstars, and that the Court may so conclude as a matter of law.
S2 owns intellectual property rights that Icefrog “created in connection” with Heroes of Newerth, not DotA Allstars. That language does not suggest that Icefrog assigned to S2 any and all intellectual property rights in DotA Allstars—quite the opposite. And even if
some creative expression created for Heroes of Newerth spilled into DotA Allstars, that would only reduce the value of Icefrog’s copyrights. It
would not strip him (or Valve) of ownership."
Pero eh, que Valve ha robado el nombre a la comunidad.
Y que conveniente que cuando se trata de Valve sacamos a relucir la moralidad de sus actos pero cuando se trata de Epic, todo esta bien porque se atañe a la legalidad (ahí ya dejamos la moralidad en segundo plano).
No se ve el plumero ni nada.