LOLWUT?

Jerks. I hope courts will bust this lawsuit.

I hate to say it but it was bound to happen. The amount of times I've accidentally called it Iron Maiden I've lost count...

That said, some of this is pathetic like: "It also argues the game is similar to Iron Maiden’s own game Legacy of the Beast" -> they're fuck-all alike. Whoever argued that point in the lawsuit, has obviously never played either or even compared a single shot of the games side by side.

It's a perfectly understandable thing for them to do - I mean the two are pronounced basically the same.

Imagine somebody made a camera app named eyePhone, you bet apple will have a thing or two to say about that..

I'd say, Iron Maiden can't even claim a trademark on their own name. Because it's a generic term which precedes them by ages:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_maiden

So who cares if it sounds similar - it's not theirs to control to begin with. Trademarking such stuff is ridiculous.

This probably has less to do with the band and more to do with Sanctuary Mgt.
Rod Smallwood is probably doing this. But even if that is true the band
themselves would never say so. Historically, what ever Rod says goes.
My questions is why this game and not a tribute band that goes by the name
"Iron Maidens"?

Quoting: ShmerlI'd say, Iron Maiden can't even claim a trademark on their own name. Because it's a generic term which precedes them by ages:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_maiden

So who cares if it sounds similar - it's not theirs to control to begin with. Trademarking such stuff is ridiculous.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Corp._v._Lindows.com,_Inc.

just saying...

Afaik the only known case where a trademark was denied / rewoked on the ground that is was just too common was intel being told to stop trademarking numbers ( 8086,286,386,486 ) which is why the 586 chip was named pentium. Though the explantion of the pentium math bug resulting in 486+100 crashing the chip is a funnier explanation

Quoting: sr_ls_boyThis probably has less to do with the band and more to do with Sanctuary Mgt.
Rod Smallwood is probably doing this. But even if that is true the band
themselves would never say so. Historically, what ever Rod says goes.
My questions is why this game and not a tribute band that goes by the name
"Iron Maidens"?

I'd immagine that they got permission from the band and reached some sort of agreement like always spelling the name of the cover band with the female symbol in place of the o in iron.

Typically these cases are about avoiding diluting the brand and/or causing confusion about affiliation ( effectively leeching of a more popular brand to peddle your wares )

So if anyone had plans to release personal finance management software under the title "MEGADEBT", they'll have to reconsider.

Joking aside, as many have noted they seem to have an very flimsy case for 'trademark infringement'. I do wonder though, if the makers of the 'Powerslave' FPS back in 1996 got into any trouble with Iron Maiden. Funnily enough that was a build engine game as well.

Quoting: ThreeEightySixI guess if their customers are so colossally stupid that they would accidentally create a Steam account and log in looking to buy a CD or tape from decades past and inadvertently bought a copy of Ion Maiden for a computer

... or 'EA Sports Madden 2018' for that matter.

Seriously it's a non sense IMO, I hope 3D Realms wins this... (And I like this band...)

Quoting: liamdaweI hate to say it but it was bound to happen. The amount of times I've accidentally called it Iron Maiden I've lost count...

Normally I don't like all this lawsuit business over names, but in this case I actually understand it. It was bound to happen when the name is pretty much 100% identical (even more so phonetically).

Quoting: sr_ls_boyMy questions is why this game and not a tribute band that goes by the name
"Iron Maidens"?

Slightly off-topic, hah, but I actually saw Iron Maidens some weeks ago. They were really damn good. The place was bouncing, and it was awesome to rock out to such great live music in a small venue :)

Quoting: PangaeaNormally I don't like all this lawsuit business over names, but in this case I actually understand it. It was bound to happen when the name is pretty much 100% identical (even more so phonetically).

Even if it were completely identical, I'd have to agree with Shmerl on this one since they're not at all the same kind of product.

Quoting: ShmerlI'd say, Iron Maiden can't even claim a trademark on their own name. Because it's a generic term which precedes them by ages:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_maiden