Rock Band Doomscroll Has Trademark App Opposed By id Software

Trademark

from the knee-deep-in-the-dumb dept

id Software is not a complete stranger to silly IP enforcement actions. Between trying to own concepts that are un-ownable and occasionally trying to throw its legal muscle around to bully others into not using common words in their own video game titles, the company has proven that it is perfectly capable of playing the IP bully. But at least in those specific instances, if you squint at them, they kinda sorta seem like industry-related, almost understandable IP disputes.

When it comes to how id Software enforces its venerated Doom trademarks, however, that is not the case. The company has a history of opposing and/or sending C&Ds to all kinds of barely related or unrelated commercial entities for trying to register anything that has to do with the word “doom”: podcasts, festivals, and entertainment properties. And now, it appears, thrash metal bands too.

Dustin Mitchell, like many of us in recent years, came across the term “doomscrolling” and decided that “Doomscroll” would be a cool name for his next metal band. After having the idea, he decided to apply for a trademark on the name for musical acts. And then came the opposition from id Software.

In October, Mitchell was noodling around on his guitar before bed when he decided to check his email one last time. A message from a lawyer appeared in his inbox. “Dear Mr. Mitchell,” it read. “My law firm represents Id Software LLC which owns the video game DOOM and related registered trademarks.” That day, October 13, it continued, was the deadline for Id Software LLC, or anyone else, to oppose his trademark application to register “doomscroll.” The lawyer asked Mitchell to agree to extend the deadline. That way, Mitchell and the Doom developer could find time to reach a resolution before any legal action went down.

Mitchell immediately felt funny; even a little sour. He was 10 in 1993, when Doom took the gaming world by storm, empowering edgelord gamers to head-pop demons with a bevy of firearms against the background of fiery hell. He had played Doom and Doom 2 back in the day, both of which he describes as “awesome,” and had listened to the metal-inspired soundtrack for 2020’s Doom Eternal, which he describes as “not bad.” Now Mitchell found himself in an unexpected standoff with its developer. He loved those games as a kid, he says, but “they’re trying to take something away from me that is completely unrelated to them.”

Unrelated in every way. No matter what soundtracks id Software has produced for Doom titles, unless it registered its mark for the music space, that’s entirely besides the point. And even if it did register its mark for musical acts or productions, that still probably doesn’t make this a valid opposition. “Doomscroll” is not in any way a reference to the video game series. Instead, it’s become a common slang term for how everyday folk use social media. They’re not related. Also, the words are not the same and I’m finding it very hard to believe that the metal-thrashing public would somehow be confused into thinking that id Software is somehow involved.

And yet id Software is simply making trouble for a musician because it can.

The company owns several trademarks around the word “doom” and video games; in the last month, the company has also filed oppositions to trademarks for “ODoom” and “Doomlings.” Prior to that, Id Software filed oppositions to entertainment properties the Maryland Doom Fest, Garden of Doom, and Doomsday Happy Hour. JB, the guy behind the Maryland Doom Fest, says he didn’t pursue the trademark after Id’s initial opposition. It would have been too expensive, he guesses. Jeff, who tried to trademark Garden of Doom, his podcast, says he came to an agreement with the lawyers representing Id Software; he says he just can’t make a movie or video game called Garden of Doom.

Right now, the fate of Doomscroll is in the hands of Id Software and the Patent Office. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board is processing the Doom developer’s opposition. A hefty trial schedule was sent out mid-October, which stretches deep into 2023. It may not be that Id Software even wants the Doomscroll trademark; it might just not want Mitchell to form a progressive thrash metal band that, maybe, someone will confuse with the storied game series.

Except that’s not going to happen. Either Mitchell, who works at Amazon during the day, is going to fight a likely long and arduous process at the TTAB or, more likely, is going to realize that such a fight isn’t worth the personal cost it would take. And, therefore, id Software’s bullying will work as likely intended, to simply make a smaller entity give up the fight.

Which is why, as we so often say, trademark bullying works. Which sucks.

Filed Under: doom, doomscroll, music, rock bands, trademark, video games
Companies: id software

Denuvo's Anti-Cheat Software Now Getting Ripped From Games At Record Speed Too

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the failing-upward dept

Remember Denuvo? Back in the far simpler times of 2016-2018, which somehow seem light years better than 2020 despite being veritable dumpster fires in and of themselves, we wrote a series of posts about Denuvo’s DRM and how it went from nigh-uncrackable to totally crackable upon games being released with it. Did we take a bit too much pleasure in this precipitous fall? Sure, though our general anti-DRM stance sort of mandated dunking on a company that once touted itself as invincible. Either way, it started to get comical watching publishers release a game with Denuvo, have the game cracked in a matter of days, if not hours, and then release a patch to remove Denuvo entirely from the game.

Due in part to this, Denuvo eventually announced it would be shifting its focus away from producing DRM that didn’t work to making anti-cheat software. So, how is that going? Well, let’s take a look at Doom Eternal, a game which only a week ago added to Denuvo’s anti-cheat software via an update.

Doom Eternal has only had Denuvo anti-cheat software for a week, and already Id Software has agreed to take it out following the backlash from some PC players.  The anti-cheat software was added last week in Doom Eternal’s first major post-launch update and was aimed at curbing the use of exploits in its online multiplayer mode, specifically on PC. At the time of the update Id Software also said it would be more aggressive in banning players caught cheating and locking them out of all online content.

There were protests almost immediately. Some players complained that the anti-cheat software was setting off their virus protection programs’ alarm bells. Others took issue with the software requiring kernel-level access to their computers, fearing that it would leave them more vulnerable if the software was later hacked. Although Id Software tried to preemptively assuage players’ fears, saying that Denuvo anti-cheat is only active while the game is on and doesn’t take screenshots or scan file systems, thousands of players still took to review-bombing the game on Steam.

Now, review bombing kind of sucks as a rule, but then so does pushing out software that is as invasive as Denuvo’s anti-cheat software after people had already purchased the game. In fact, given some of the security concerns and holes that Denuvo’s software potentially opens up, one has to wonder seriously about liability here. Either way, you have to work really hard to get a bunch of online gamers for a wildly popular game to not want a tool to stop cheating in that game. And to that extent at least, Denuvo is a success.

For what it’s worth, the folks behind Doom Eternal still want to tackle cheating, but perhaps do so in a way that gives players some more choice.

“As we examine any future of anti-cheat in DOOM Eternal, at a minimum we must consider giving campaign-only players the ability to play without anti-cheat software installed, as well as ensure the overall timing of any anti-cheat integration better aligns with player expectations around clear initiatives—like ranked or competitive play—where demand for anti-cheat is far greater,” Stratton wrote.

Whatever choice is presented, however, it appears that Denuvo will not be an option.

Filed Under: anti-cheat, doom eternal, drm
Companies: denuvo, id software

Rage Against The Convoluted 'Rage' Trademark Dispute

Trademark

from the ragey-rage-rage dept

While Id Software is not a complete stranger to lame and opportunistic intellectual property disputes, I have to say the latest dispute involving the video gaming giant has me scratching my head. Via Newsweek, we learn that a small three-person game studio out of Costa Rica, called Green Lava Studios, is being forced to change the name of a port of its PC game, Fenix Rage, for its console release. Have you guessed why yet? No? Well, that’s probably because the issue is over Id Software’s game R.A.G.E., originally released in 2011. Id Software sent Green Lava Studios a cease and desist letter, citing its trademark on the word “rage” for the purposes of video games.

In October 2011, id Software developed and released a game called RAGE. The 3-D post-apocalyptic game received fairly positive reviews, but has since been largely forgotten. Three years later, in September 2014, Green Lava Studios released Fenix Rage on PC. Fenix Rage is a 2-D game in which players have to guide a superhero through hundreds of incredibly difficult puzzle-like levels. Nearly a full year after Fenix Rage’s release, the game was about to be ported to the Playstation 4 and Xbox One when the legal threat arrived.

“We were told we would have to change our name or take this to court,” Ramírez tells Newsweek. “That is not an option because we don’t have the resources to do that.” Ramírez was running a three-man development team, small by the standards of most game studios, and felt he had an obligation to actually release a game.

You may be wondering, as I was when originally looking into this, how it came to be that Id Software was challenging the release of the console version of a game that had already been released for PCs in 2014 without issue. The answer appears to be that Id software only registered the trademark for “Rage” in 2015, long after the release of its game, and long after the release of Green Lava Studios’ Fenix Rage game on PC.

While the name Fenix Rage would have to be changed for consoles, it can still be sold as Fenix Rage on PC. This is because id Software trademarked the word “Rage” on January 12, 2015, after Fenix Rage had already been released on PC.

“The game would be already launched,” Ramírez said when asked how much this whole affair has delayed the studio. “We’ve been delayed around six months now, and counting.”

I’m going to summarize this, because when you put the timeline in a single instance, none of this makes sense: Id Software releases R.A.G.E. in 2011, Green Lava releases Fenix Rage on PC in 2014, Id Software trademarks “rage” in early 2015 and then disputes the release of a console port of Green Lava’s PC game in late 2015 on into 2016. Let’s not lose site of the key point in this: Fenix Rage has already been made and released. The console version is a port of that game. But now, because of the threat of the much larger Id Software and its trademark on the word “rage” granted several years after the release of its game, Green Lava is capitulating and changing the name of its console version.

The legal action completely demoralized the team at Green Lava Studios. ”It was really sad,” Ramírez said. “We got this award, the GameMaker Showcase Game of the Year. It was the first award our country had gotten for game making. We got it with the name Fenix Rage. That’s something we cannot mention now on consoles.”

Green Lava Studios ultimately settled on Fenix Furia for its console release. “We wanted to get a name and keep the same ‘rage’ attitude.” Ramírez said. “It’s a raging game, after all.”

This, of course, is not what trademarks are for. Nowhere is anyone seriously going to believe there is any customer confusion at the heart of this. Rather, this is Id Software being Id Software and stomping on a small game studio in another country, seemingly for no other reason than because it can. Green Lava Studios should fight this, because it would likely win any dispute for any number of reasons. But you can’t blame the much smaller company for being wary of a legal battle with a larger company. Trademark bullying, at its best.

Filed Under: fenix rage, r.a.g.e., rage, trademark
Companies: green lava studios, id software

It's All Fun And Virtual Reality Until Oculus Gets Bought For $2 Billion — Then ZeniMax Wants Its Cut

Legal Issues

from the fun-of-employment-agreements dept

It’s always funny to see the greedy folks reveal themselves after a company sells out for many millions or billions of dollars. The latest is ZeniMax, the owners of Id Software, and the former employer of John Carmack. Carmack, of course, is the famous video gaming guru who left ZeniMax last year to go full time at Oculus. Prior to that, Carmack had tried to work at both companies, but after ZeniMax no longer wanted him working on virtual reality, Carmack reasonably decided to go full time at Oculus. While not exactly common, it’s also not unheard of for “rockstar” tech folks to work at and/or run multiple companies at the same time — think Steve Jobs at Pixar/Apple and Jack Dorsey at Twitter/Square. Usually there aren’t any real “ownership” issues to deal with, but it appears that once Facebook ponied up $2 billion for Oculus, ZeniMax suddenly decided that Carmack was using its proprietary technology to make the Oculus Rift work. Of course, if that were true, you would have thought that ZeniMax would have raised the issue long ago, rather than waiting until many months after they knew what Carmack was working on at Oculus. This just stinks of a company that did nothing, now looking to cash in on a big deal it had nothing at all to do with.

Carmack, in response to this has noted that no work he did has been patented, and while ZeniMax may own his code, they can’t claim to own the concept of virtual reality. This may not come down to patents (or copyright). It may come down to the terms of Carmack’s employment agreement. As lots of developers know, it’s not uncommon for some companies to have ridiculously overbroad employment agreements that try to claim the rights to basically any concept you ever thought about while you work for them.

Filed Under: deals, john carmack, oculus rift, ownership, virtual reality
Companies: facebook, id software, oculus, zenimax