Blizzard opposes Valve Dota name registration

It came to light this week that Blizzard has challenged Valve's move to secure the U.S. trademark to the Defense of the Ancients name, despite previously saying that it was not planning to do so. Back in 2010, Valve revealed that it was working on Dota 2, a sequel to the original Warcraft III mod. Blizzard said that it was confused by the move, but later confirmed that it had no plans to challenge Valve, as it wanted to sidestep a trademark dispute. However, Blizzard filed a U.S. trademark opposition to Valve's registration of the Dota name late last year, as spotted by NeoGAF. The company is looking to prevent Valve from registering and using the name in its upcoming game. In the filing, Blizzard explains that the Dota name has been exclusively used by Blizzard and its community for more than seven years, and therefore has become associated with Blizzard and its game Warcraft III. "Valve Corporation has never used the mark Dota in connection with any product or service that currently is available to the public," it continued. "By attempting to register the mark Dota, Valve seeks to appropriate the more than seven years of goodwill that Blizzard has developed in the mark Dota and in its Warcraft III computer game and take for itself a name that has come to signify the product of years of time and energy expended by Blizzard and by fans of Warcraft III." "Valve has no right to the registration it seeks. If such registration is issued, it not only will damage Blizzard, but also the legions of Blizzard fans that have worked for years with Blizzard and its products, including by causing consumers to falsely believe that Valve's products are affiliated, sponsored or endorsed by Blizzard and are related or connected to Warcraft III." Later in the filing, Blizzard further explains, "Valve has never released, distributed, or sold any products using the mark Dota, or, for that matter, any of the Dota Marks. Valve did not coin the Dota mark and has never participated in the creation of the Dota Mods. Indeed, Valve has never released, distributed, or sold any products using any title that might conceivably be shortened to the acronym Dota." It concludes, "If Valve is granted registration of the Dota mark, it would obtain a prima facie exclusive right to use of its mark that would cause damage and injury to Blizzard."