I have been in the past and hopefully in the future, an avid comic book collector. To see Marvel throw a hissy fit over something like this just leaves a bad taste in one''s mouth. It is free advertising for pete''s sake. They are pissed cause they aren''t getting some sort of royalties out of the deal, they have money coming out of their collective ass from all the other merchandising and movie deals that this shouldn''t even be a blip on their radar.

Grow up Marvel.

Good question.

I guess COH messed with their plans for super-hero based MMORPG. Maybe the will negotiate and come up CoH Marvel Universe where you play in their various cities...

Hmm...I don''t remember hearing about a Freedom Force hubub, my son is draining my gray matter from me, but apparently it wasn''t too bad as FF is coming out (or already has) with a sequel.

Hey Mavrel, perhaps you could start suing the players who are infringing your copyrights. Slap my 10 year nephew with a lawsuit for playing Wulfverine! It worked well for the recording industry right? And look at all the goodwill it engendered.

Thank you he''ll be here all week.

I think that Marvel has a case with this. People create the claw guy to be Wolverine, everyone knows this. Hell, I was pissed that I couldn''t make Gambit!

I think it will be a good fight to watch and both parties have valid points.

That said it just goes to show you how bad copyright is right now in this country, many of the staple comic book heroes would start entering the public domain around now if the laws weren''t all whacked. Not to mention that all Marvel does is create characters which it then no longer uses just so they can make action figures and expand their library of characters. WB does this too with its DC line up so it''s not like no one is fault free.

I think this is the whole point.

Marvel came back from the brink of bankruptcy, and they aren''t exactly having titles fly off the shelf at $3 each (or whatever they cost, damned expensive if you ask me.).

The Marvel Universe has a billion characters, alot of them variations on the common superhero themes:tank, scrapper/feral, super spy, etc. Face it, anything you create in CoH probably is already copyrighted by Marvel.

So they may be suing to get a piece of the action.

I''m sorry, but are they going to start sueing companies that make paper and pencils? Not like folks draw these characters? These companies are enablers too.

Also, I''m no expert, but doesn''t Wolfie boy have 4 claws per hand? I recall my CoH guy having only 3.

Toss the case me thinks.

Yes. Wolverine is barely even IN the marvel universe these days.

Oh wait. No. Probably 8 titles, simultaneously, in any given month. Arguably their most popular X-Man. I''d be pissed too.

I think the hangup is the powers. Wolverine is COMPLETELY unique in the comic book world (at least to my knowledge). Are there other people who have Cyclops''s ocular blasts? Yes. Are there other people who can read minds? God yes. But Wolverine is the only comic book character with retractable metal claws. It''d be like having one of the powers be Exploding Cards, and giving the person a costume choice of a brown trenchcoat.

I think it takes balls for a company to even USE Wolverine''s claws as an ENTIRE powerset, but it takes another completely different set of balls to expect to get away with it if the people who hold the trademark get pissed.

You''re saying Marvel copyrighted a superhero having claws so no other superhero can have claws and you''re ok with that?

Not to be a contrarian here, but -- and this is key -- to the extent that any of the claims are based on trademark law, as opposed to copyright law, Marvel may be acting out of necessity.

Trademark law requires that a trademark owner/holder reasonably act to protect its existing trademarks. Failure by Marvel to protect -- or ""police"" -- its trademark may be deemed abandonment. This raises two questions: (a) are any of the allegations based on trademark law (unclear from the article, but likely) and (b) whether Marvel''s actions in this respect are reasonable.

For a variety of reasons I won''t go into here (I am desperately trying to focus on work), I take the position that Marvel''s trademark claims are rather weak (although I would consider its copyright claims to be a bit stronger).

Short story, long: Marvel''s attorneys may have advised it to pursue the trademark claims, to the extent there are any, out of necessity. The copyright claims are likely stronger, although they raise substantial questions themselves (concerning, among other issues, contributory infringement, inducement, etc.).

All good points. My assumption was that Marvel was asserting copyright infringement, but I can''t tell from here at work. Damn websense.

It''s the Swedish Hulk! Bork bork bork!

Shouldn''t they be suing the users who made the characters, not the company? It''s a bit like suing gun makers for gun crimes.