Marvel vs. City Of Heroes

Marvel and DC Comics started an American revolution with comic books. They created characters for a generation that faced problems such as race, religion, drugs, and war. But with the new generation interested in different medias, companies fight to protect their intellectual properties.

Marvels first victim was the publisher GeekPunk who had produced a book entitled SUPER HERO HAPPY HOUR. Marvel sued GeekPunk with the case that the word super hero was the intellectual property of Marvel and DC Comics. GeekPunk couldnt fight Marvel and DC, and just gave in. A small publisher barely breaking even, starting out the same way Marvel and DC did way back in 1964, was sued over the word super hero because Marvel and DC are scared of competition.

Marvels next victims were their fans that made skins for a game called Freedom Force. Freedom Force is a real-time tactical role playing game, where players control a group of heroes and save the day. These fans made skins for Freedom Force and released them for free. Marvel didnt sue Freedom Force; they shut down sites that were hosting these FREE skins.

Now Marvels target is PlayNC and Cryptic Studios game, City Of Heroes. City of Heroes has brought this generation back into comics. Average people, young or old, can now make a unique hero and save the world! They even release a comic book every month that follows and progresses the games story, allowing player made heroes to make appearances in issues. City of Heroes has made the comic book world come alive again, people are making their own comics with their own ideas, and Marvel doesn't seem to like the new competition.

Marvel insists that the City Of Heroes character creation tool allows players to create many of their intellectual properties, the main ones being The Hulk and Wolverine. The tool is just a medium to express a players imagination, what is made with it is up to the player. Adobe Photoshop is a tool that allows people to express their imagination as well, yet when someone draws The Hulk or Wolverine and puts it on eBay, where is Marvel?

Cryptic Studios does not support the copyright infringement of ANY copyrighted property. You can not replicate a hero such as The Hulk or Wolverine, but you can make heroes that somewhat look like them. But, before you can play City of Heroes you must agree to the End User Agreement, which states:

You may not select as your Character Name the name of another person, or a name which violates any third party's trademark right, copyright, or other proprietary right, or which may mislead other players to believe you to be an employee of NC Interactive, or which NC Interactive deems at its sole discretion to be vulgar or otherwise offensive. NC Interactive reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to (1) delete or alter any Character Name or (2) terminate any license granted herein, for any reason whatsoever, including, without limitation, any suspected or actual infringement of any trademark or trade name right, copyright, or other proprietary right.

It continues with:

NC Interactive reserves the right to suspend or terminate this Agreement (including your Software license and your Account) immediately and without notice if you breach this Agreement or willfully infringe any third party intellectual property rights, or if we are unable to verify or authenticate any information you provide to us, or upon game play, chat or any player activity whatsoever which is, in our sole discretion, inappropriate and/or in violation of the spirit of City of Heroes as described in the Rules of Conduct.

PlayNC and Cryptic Studios has done nothing wrong, and is successfully bringing more people back to comic books and heros. They repsect Marvel's property, and when a player makes a copyrighted hero, they are banned and deleted from the system.

I understand that comic sales in the last decade were far from great, but why is Marvel trying to end all hope of them returning just for a few bucks? I do not work for PlayNC or Cryptic Studios, and have written this petition in hopes that Marvel will see everyone that has signed, and think twice before ruining the future of new heroes in video games, cartoons, and comic books all together.