[Zaxx]

Guys, stop hating on fucking Iron Maiden, chances are they don't even know Ion Maiden exists. What you wanna hate is Iron Maiden Holdings, the company that's behind the lawsuit... but hate may be too strong of a feeling for them too because they only do what they pay them for honestly.

Also: I don't want to blame 3DR because that would be pointless and stupid (fuck Iron Maiden Holdings though) but there are two things to keep in mind:

- There is a similarity in the title, that's the real issue here, not the shitty little details they say to back up their claims as best as they can (that's kind of just a lawyer thing, they have to at least somewhat justify that 2 million they made up with every little fucking thing they can come up with even if it's a fairy tale).

- There is a history of Iron Maiden Holdings going after shit like this, they even sued a comic made by Jason Rubin because there was a similarity in the title (it was called Iron and the Maiden) and he had to change the title.

So overall I think that 3DR should have looked more into this stuff when choosing the title because from that it does seem risky to go with Ion Maiden.

And now that you no longer hate Iron Maiden here's some music to calm your nerves:

[Aristotle Gumball]

You can easily blame the band, lol. Ignorance isn't an excuse. "Poor millionaires, they didn't even know what was being done on their behalf".

That said, a shit ton of people do mistakenly believe the game has something to do with the band. You see it in online comments a lot.

[----]

Interesting. I once had a few drinks with Steve Harris as he stopped by at the local pub I viset every other day (not a huge Maiden fan, but hey, why not). And he agreed to take a few photos with the pub's branded shirts (who he really liked) as free advertising for them. All he asked for that they only post the photos after an hour or so, so that not hundreds of people from the open air festival that took place a few villages further down flood the bar.

Not defending the cause or the band, but I think it is management and or law-firm.

I hope that it gets settled out of court and a rename is all it takes. That way not a lot of additional work has to be done and the game got a bit more of free advertising.


Back in the day things were a lot easier. Look at DN3D's cover art ... a straight ripoff from Army of Darkness. Same with Turrican (which was huge in Europe): Compare it to Manowar's album cover (Kings of Metal, I think). And some of DN2's graphics were straight ripped out of Turrican. And nothing happened.
OK, Nintendo went after "The Great Giana Sisters" on C64 and Amiga and Irem after katakis (an R-Type ripoff). But in the latter case Activision (the puiblishers) asked the programmer of Katakis to do their R-Type port for C64 and Amiga. That's how things should work out.

[Zaxx]

Anyway Shrapnel Siren would really be a cool alternative title and since this game doesn't feature the Ion Maiden weapon (as far as we know at least) and Shelly doesn't have a mechanical arm it may be even a bit more fitting for the game.

[Aristotle Gumball]

fuegerstef, on 31 May 2019 - 01:09 AM, said:

Back in the day things were a lot easier. Look at DN3D's cover art ... a straight ripoff from Army of Darkness.

Look familiar?





AFAIK most of the midis in Doom were straight ripoffs of famous thrash metal songs of the time as well.

[NNC]

Randy will sue Shrapnel Siren, because it's a derivative of Shrapnel City.

[Zaxx]

Nancsi, on 31 May 2019 - 02:36 AM, said:

Randy will sue Shrapnel Siren, because it's a derivative of Shrapnel City.

Then they'll just change the title to Bitchford City.

[MusicallyInspired]

The case IM Holdings seems to be making is that, being a trademark lawsuit, they're trying to prove that 3D Realms are intentionally trying to confuse customers into believing their game is somehow connected to the band and their brand. I'm no lawyer (clearly!), but does that mean that because this is not a copyright case that the fact that the names are similar doesn't mean much on its own? And that's therefore the reason why they came up with all the supporting "evidence" to prove how "similar" the game is to the band? Because it seems to me that if it were purely on the basis of having similar names that this would just be thrown out of court due to the iron maiden term having existed way before the band. So they're trying to prove that this game is trying to rip off the band's brand which is ridiculous. I guess it depends on how perceptive the judge is, but isn't this all open and shut in that case if the judge sees that the game and the band are nothing alike (or the game and the band's game for that matter)?

Or am I totally wrong and misunderstanding the difference between copyright and trademark?

It seems like the reverse of that one lawsuit that an indie point and click adventure game designer filed against CBS for ripping off his story, concept, and characters for Star Trek Discovery from his game Tardigrades (which totally seems to have merit, by the way).

[Sanek]

MusicallyInspired, on 31 May 2019 - 05:52 AM, said:

I guess it depends on how perceptive the judge is, but isn't this all open and shut in that case if the judge sees that the game and the band are nothing alike (or the game and the band's game for that matter)?

I think it depends on who have more money. You said, Iron Maiden's brand was ripped-off a number of times but there's no accusations. The likes of Capcom and Bethesda is Holding's equals as far as finances is concerned, but 3DR is very small by comprasion with these companies, so it's easy prey for these trademark hunters.

[MusicallyInspired]

Sigh, true.

[Perro Seco]

Zaxx, on 31 May 2019 - 01:31 AM, said:

Shrapnel Siren would really be a cool alternative title

I don't know how many meanings has "siren" in English, but in Spanish (sirena) means 1: mermaid and 2: alarm signal. With that name people will expect some kind of game about women with fish tails...

I hope they can keep "Ion Maiden", which sounds good even if you never heard of Iron Maiden before. If not..., better try with "Ion Maidun".

[MusicallyInspired]

Was the skull in the logo designed to be an Iron Maiden homage? Were the artists even thinking of Eddie when they designed it?

[Mark]

My guess is yes. Was that skull used anywhere inside the game itself before the title was chosen? Then my guess is no.

[oasiz]

https://bombshell.ga...om/Bowling_bomb

[Mark]

That answers that question.

[TerminX]

Yep, the skull and player character both existed in Bombshell long before the title for our game was chosen.

You guys wanna know why we really chose Ion Maiden? We thought the name of the weapon from Bombshell was cool, and when we went to check if the domain was available we discovered that 3DR happened to have purchased the domains for several of the Bombshell weapons before the game was released.

If I thought for one second that one of my formerly favorite bands was going to come out of the woodwork with an axe to grind over it, I would have gone for something else entirely.

[Aristotle Gumball]

Cybercunt 2097

Make it tie in with CD Projekt's game.

[Forge]

They're still one of my favorite bands.

I think they're wrong in this instance, but I don't blame them for trying to defend their name and trademark.
From their perspective, they (the holdings lawyers) are doing what they think is right to protect themselves. They don't hang out in this community. They probably never played the game. They are outsiders looking in, without the insight we have.

[Forge]

If you never heard of this game in your life and somebody sent you a message telling you to check "ion Maiden", you'd probably think it was related to the band. Once you got the website though, it'd be blatantly obvious that the two have nothing to do with each other.
The first thing you'd think is, "Who is this chick, and where's Eddie?"

[TerminX]

Sure, but you do have to blame them for "defending" it with outright lies:

[Forge]

Forge, on 31 May 2019 - 01:40 PM, said:

I think they're wrong in this instance,

^this

[Jimmy]

If they're lying then they're just working in your favour.

[Forge]

So why didn't Fred say something back in December when 3DR filed trademark Express Abandonment paperwork, but continued to use the Ion Maiden name anyway?

[Gambini]

Perro Seco, on 31 May 2019 - 06:23 AM, said:

I don't know how many meanings has "siren" in English, but in Spanish (sirena) means 1: mermaid and 2: alarm signal. With that name people will expect some kind of game about women with fish tails...

I hope they can keep "Ion Maiden", which sounds good even if you never heard of Iron Maiden before. If not..., better try with "Ion Maidun".

heh! Ion Maidum would be indeed a great name and a great reference to its historical background (like you can´t be a Duke Nukem successor if your name had not been in conflict with some already existing name). Very clever sir!

[razgriz]

Disgusting that a band's manager would do this and delay a great game.

[Forge]

Forbes, PCWorld, IGN, etc., etc.

Streisand effect

[Hank]

TerminX, on 31 May 2019 - 12:04 PM, said:

cut >>
If I thought for one second that one of my formerly favorite bands was going to come out of the woodwork with an axe to grind over it, I would have gone for something else entirely.

I hope you are not blaming yourself for the current major setback?
Simply checks, by Eugene, one of my business buddies, suggests staying away from the game title of Ion Maiden.
The main issue is that Iron Maiden Holdings Ltd and its registered trade name, Iron Maiden, is established in California, and their stringent US trade laws will apply. Yes, he (my friend) is a fucking expensive, but very proficient. The none-friend fee would have been 700 CAD ~ $500 US. This exercise took less than an hour, much less than a court battle let alone a name change, just before publishing.

Maybe you remember my opinion about some 3D Realms' staff members? Yes, I apologized for my non-political correct terms; but now nor then was I was I ever, ever sorry. In blatant political incorrect terms let me suggest: 'Try to avoid proven incompetent business partners. 3D Realms is a waste of space. Take your losses, regroup and start over. Please. I want to play this, in my life time.

To all others, sure blame Iron Maiden, those bad boys. What did they do? Rise from the bottom? Had brains to protect their assets? No? They are evil rich monsters? OK.

[Paul B]

Well that sucks! =(

Here's some new names:
Bionic Maiden
Metal Maiden
Robo Maiden
Cyber Maiden
Trooper Maiden
Cyborg Maiden
Steel Maiden (stronger than Iron Maiden)
Metallic Maiden (piss on Metallica and Iron Maiden) lol

[The Battlelord]

Paul B, on 31 May 2019 - 08:47 PM, said:

Steel Maiden (stronger than Iron Maiden)

The Battlelord, on 30 May 2019 - 09:48 AM, said:

1øn Ma1den
sequel: 1øn Mai2en

No?

One Maiden
One Mai2en

No?

Oni Maiden
Oni Mai2en

No?

Steel Maiden
Steel Mai2en
(Duke: "I've got balls of steel". Shelly: "I've got 'somethingelse' of steel" )

Too similar yet? They can simply change their mind too!

Now you are forcing me to ask a trademark infringement suit against you, $2 Million should be enough, and don't dare to lie, I know you have some nice trees where money grows .

Obviously am joking but, see how stupid sounds doing this? It does not matter who did it, managers, lawyers etc.. check and ask before to act like this, its free and does not harm anyone...

Metal/Metallic Maiden sounds good to shorten its name to MM

What about Titanium or Titania Maiden?
FusION Maiden
ExplosION Maiden
Explosive Maiden
Let's drop Maiden for a second, Ion Madness? .

Maybe devs are looking for something original, Best of luck guys!

[OpenMaw]

I got one.

Fuck You Iron Maiden Forever.