Marvel Claims Dismissed as Sham

Comic book giant Marvel hit a major roadblock in its trademark infringement case against the developers of the video game City of Heroes.  Last week, a district court judge dismissed more than half of Marvel's claims.

The controversy centers around the core concept of the game: players create superheros— customizing everything from costume to special powers— and do battle in a massive online world.  The problem, according to Marvel, is that the game allows players to create characters to similar to its own trademarked heros.

Late last year, Marvel sued the game's creators, NCSoft and Cryptic Studios, seeking an injunction against the companies to stop using its characters.  Last week, more than half of their claims were dismissed.  A district court judge found, among other things, that several allegedly infringing characters being offered as evidence were actually created by Marvel.  The claims, which the judge called a sham, were dismissed without leave to amend.

The defendants now have 10 days to dispute remaining claims.