This is quite sad really, Zenimax are now sending their cronies after DoomRL [Official Site] the Doom-inspired roguelike.
The developer, who I follow shared it on Twitter:
So... Zenimax have just written to me demanding I take down the DoomRL site... :-/ pic.twitter.com/tXAwdq59Zz
— Kornel Kisielewicz (@epyoncf) December 2, 2016
The actual image in case it vanishes:
I'm not surprised though, since he is using the actual Doom logo on the website, with a minor adjustment. The game also shared monster names, sprite designs and so on. So it looks like this could be the end of the road for the fan-game.
The silly thing is, it's not even remotely competing with the actual Doom games, so this is just ZeniMax showing their muscles. As sad as it is, I'm torn here. Fan games are awesome, but they are essentially using someone's designs and often more.
It seems Zenimax have only really noticed it now that the DoomRL creator is crowdfunding a successor named Jupiter Hell.
trying to shit it down
I think you should keep that in the title. Because they are trying to shit on it.
Lets all note here that it isn't economically viable for them to port their games to Linux, yet it is economically viable for them to go threaten people that have no money with lawsuits.
While I am in no way supporting Zenimax here, and dont agree with their behaviour. I believe this is a case of a rock and a hard place; in order to maintain trademarks on things you have to actively use and critically take steps to prevent its use by other parties. So while DoomRL may not pose any threat to Zenimax by not defending the trademark they potentially down the line open themselves up to others who could be a threat being able to use the trademark as they would be able to prove that Zenimax wasnt actively protecting it.
Source: My Memory of something I read; Dont quote me; Not a lawyer!
They are not demanding he take the site and project down. They are demanding he remove their trademarks.
They aren't trying to shut the project down. They are trying to protect their trademarks. This is compulsory under US trademark law. If you do not protect your trademarks, and other people use them in an unconnected and unauthorized fashion, your trademark can become a generic term.That effectively shuts it down. The entire project is entirely based around Doom as a fan project.
They are not demanding he take the site and project down. They are demanding he remove their trademarks.
Next goal seems to be definitly ruining quake fair and balanced gameplay with quake champions (mix of overwatch and quake). They are the one responsible for no more linux support and no more linux/mac games from ID software. If zenimax did not exist we would definitly have a linux version for the last DOOM on day 1.
Zenimax has turned ID software into a ennemy of creativity. While in the past they were trully pionneer of open source and cross platform games.
I hate them. Just because they are not creative and can't make money of an indie game they have to put pressure on them, instead of helping the guy working on a original reboot of their very aging license.
While I am in no way supporting Zenimax here, and dont agree with their behaviour. I believe this is a case of a rock and a hard place; in order to maintain trademarks on things you have to actively use and critically take steps to prevent its use by other parties. So while DoomRL may not pose any threat to Zenimax by not defending the trademark they potentially down the line open themselves up to others who could be a threat being able to use the trademark as they would be able to prove that Zenimax wasnt actively protecting it.+ Click to view long quote
Source: My Memory of something I read; Dont quote me; Not a lawyer!
So let me source my logic:
Scrolls, doom and there was some other thing they were going after... are english words in the english dictionary. Yet zenimax seeks to claim them as trademarks? Not only that, they go after the guy who respects the trademark (he made a doom game) rather than slapping the name doom on a completely different title. Yet they would have to spend time on this, a 17 year old game, to protect their trademark? That doesn't sound very logical to me.
Then the costs of them going after a no name developer, it's just not sane. If they have that much money to burn through then a Linux version should be a trivial matter.
Of course, this doesn't mean there aren't plenty of other things that I can fault Zenimax for (like sucking all the life out of Id).
Last edited by CFWhitman on 2 December 2016 at 3:17 pm UTC
+ Click to view long quoteLets all note here that it isn't economically viable for them to port their games to Linux, yet it is economically viable for them to go threaten people that have no money with lawsuits.
While I am in no way supporting Zenimax here, and dont agree with their behaviour. I believe this is a case of a rock and a hard place; in order to maintain trademarks on things you have to actively use and critically take steps to prevent its use by other parties. So while DoomRL may not pose any threat to Zenimax by not defending the trademark they potentially down the line open themselves up to others who could be a threat being able to use the trademark as they would be able to prove that Zenimax wasnt actively protecting it.
Source: My Memory of something I read; Dont quote me; Not a lawyer!
They aren't trying to shut the project down. They are trying to protect their trademarks. This is compulsory under US trademark law. If you do not protect your trademarks, and other people use them in an unconnected and unauthorized fashion, your trademark can become a generic term.
This serious misconception needs to DIE FAST:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/11/ubuntus-trademark-folly-fueled-by-misunderstanding-of-law-eff-says/
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/11/trademark-law-does-not-require-companies-tirelessly-censor-internet (via the previous link)
While the risk of having one's trademark falling into the generic use exists, it is fairly limited, and completely unrelated to this kind of trademark enforcement.
Example:you say a FPS, a 3D Game, a video game, not a DOOM, an Arena or a Pong, right? (although it is debatable in the last case because of those "Pong games", and in the first with DOOM-like; Arena Wasn't a very good example either). FPS is really the generic term here, regardless of the "DOOM clone" term, which might be generic, whereas DOOM isn't.
Remember: Zenimax is NOT id software, and they will never be. Hell, they even sued John Carmack.
id is dead. Zenimax looted id's IPs and their community, to the extent that they ripped off Brutal DooM with their latest installment. Granted, it is a good ripoff, but those guys would do any stupid thing for the sake of money.
Last edited by omer666 on 2 December 2016 at 3:47 pm UTC
Well the title was quite on-point, even if it was an hilariously bad typo :DAh man, you fixed it! :-(
This serious misconception needs to DIE FAST:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/11/ubuntus-trademark-folly-fueled-by-misunderstanding-of-law-eff-says/
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/11/trademark-law-does-not-require-companies-tirelessly-censor-internet (via the previous link)
Im happy to be corrected, as I say it was only based on information that I could remember. I will of course read the links when I have a bit of spare time
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