I hate Danger Girl

[The Lightningale]

Recently I decided to make a plain clothes version of my main, the Lightningale. Since I created her in 2004, her alter ego has been Abigail Elizabeth Chase, a Paragon native and MAGI employee, so I created the character "Abigail Chase" as a storm/elec defender, wrote her a bio to indicate who she was, and left her in Outbreak.

Apparently, during the 45 minutes she was actually in-game, someone was kind enough to report that she was a copyright violation of one Abbey Chase of the Danger Girl comic series. And one day later, NCSoft support was kind enough to genericize my new character as an IP violation. I petitioned NCSoft after looking up the Danger Girl character, and explained that the name had been part of my concept since 2004, that the two characters were nothing alike (except that both are blond) and asked them to restore the name.

I got word today that they will not restore the name, since Abbey Chase of Danger Girl doesn't really have a particular costume. Thus all characters who are female, blond, and have names resembling Abbey Chase are violations of the IP. WhatEVER.:grr:

This is the first time I've ever felt like quitting this game over something.

Danger Girl, you cheap scantily clad excuse for a spy! May your comic books rot on shelves around the globe!

[iggy880]

Wow, I want to petition this on your behalf, I mean I don't know where to go for this, but the fact of the matter is, if she has no true costume and is blond they can't call it infringement, hell they could say the girl from National Treasure was a copyright infringement then. Also, she isn't like a tech, AR/traps, or anything related. Also, since the Wikipedia reference doesn't have a creation date, I can't even make a statement on that.

[The Lightningale]

Thank, Iggy. I appreciate the sentiment. I'm pretty sure that since I already petitioned the NCSoft support staff about this, it would take influence with someone high up in the NCSoft food chain to get the decision reversed. Even worse, I checked and they have not locked the name Abigail Chase down. So anyone else but me is free to make a character that goes by my character's alter ego name. O_o

[Seadevil]

Wow, that sucks. You might want to change Lightningale's real name? Seems like an easy way to clear things up.

[Nerfed]

The only thing I can recommend is that you don't give up on it. Each time you respond and continue your petition to get the name back, make sure you are getting bumped up that chain of command.

I had an instance where my mind/psi dominator, an evil half-sister of Sister Psyche who I named Cousin Psyche... that name plus the face I gave her an almost identical costume (with different face and only just similar hair) got the name and appearance genericized and a warning about IP infractions sent to me.

I petitioned to have the name and appearance returned and was denied. I responded back explaining my concerns and asked that my case be elevated to someone who can actually help me rather than just hand me a canned response. I got a second response back saying that my character was a trademark violation and that my petition was denied. I responded back with an almost identical reply asking to be moved up the chain of command again.

The third response back from them came from a guy named Mitch... who apologized to me for the mistake and acknowledged that my character was fine and that the staff have to be thorough when dealing with possible IP infringements. My name was restored and life went on.

What you need to do is provide significant proof that your character was legally distinct from the Danger Girl character. When it comes to trademark infringements, that's what really counts. I mean, you can point to plenty of characters with similarities and make a tenuous link to someone's else trademark... but pointing out how something is legally distinct would stand up in court (if it truly is), and its how things that end up on TV that seem like ripoffs of something else get away with it.

[Nerfed]

And I'd say the fact that your character is (I assume) a magically-powered super hero named Abigail Chase and the Danger Girl character is a spy with no super powers who possess a similar-but-different name, your legal distinction should be based on that rather than any appearance arguments.

[Nerfed]

Danger Girl, you cheap scantily clad excuse for a spy! May your comic books rot on shelves around the globe!

I just wanted to add... I like Danger Girl and hope no such fate befalls the comic. Its not the comic's fault that NCSoft's legal department are such anal retentive name-nazis. Point of fact, its Marvel Comics' fault that they are thanks to that lawsuit awhile back.

[WingedAvenger]

Danger Girl has been around since at least 1998, so they got you there. Abbey Chase is typically seen in a white shirt and green pants with a blonde bob. What does your character look like?

[The Lightningale]

I just wanted to add... I like Danger Girl and hope no such fate befalls the comic. Its not the comic's fault that NCSoft's legal department are such anal retentive name-nazis. Point of fact, its Marvel Comics' fault that they are thanks to that lawsuit awhile back.

Perhaps I should have put that smiley after my original exclamation after all. But now that you bring that up I actually do blame Danger Girl. She may seem fictional, but I'm quite sure she's the source of all my woes. :P


As to moving my petition up the ladder, the response I got was actually from Mitch, and was not canned. He argued that since the Danger Girl character isn't defined by a particular costume, only her name and general look define the IP. My name was similar--Abigail to Abbey--and my look was similar--shoulder length blond hair. When I originally petitioned the change, I mentioned that Gale's powers come from magic, that she does not use guns, that the name is actually different, and that Disney has a character named Abigail Chase (who happens to have shoulder-length blond hair). If I'm infringing on anyone's trademark, it's Disney's.

I could keep arguing it, but they should have known better in the first place than to place that very negligible chance of a lawsuit above the satisfaction of a long-standing and faithful customer who was acting conscientiously. In my opinion, it was a poor business decision that reinforces a gross overreaching of US copyright law.

[The Lightningale]

Danger Girl has been around since at least 1998, so they got you there. Abbey Chase is typically seen in a white shirt and green pants with a blonde bob. What does your character look like?

The costume she was wearing at the time was a brown trench with a black tee and blue jeans. Her hair was standard Long 1 style. Nothing fancy. Definitely nothing reminiscent of the costume you describe above.

Even better, I'm pretty sure I was reported by a character named "The Incredible Iron", who was a huge green guy in shorts with an iron helmet and metal gauntlets. Ah, the irony!

[Vendel]

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y197/Vendel/Comic%20stuff/ac.jpg

:D

[Nerfed]

As to moving my petition up the ladder, the response I got was actually from Mitch, and was not canned. He argued that since the Danger Girl character isn't defined by a particular costume, only her name and general look define the IP. My name was similar--Abigail to Abbey--and my look was similar--shoulder length blond hair. When I originally petitioned the change, I mentioned that Gale's powers come from magic, that she does not use guns, that the name is actually different, and that Disney has a character named Abigail Chase (who happens to have shoulder-length blond hair). If I'm infringing on anyone's trademark, it's Disney's.

You probably shouldn't have mentioned the Disney thing.

As for is argument of the Danger Girl character not being defined by a costume, there you go... you can't copy what isn't distinct enough to be copied. And for the name and general look, if they're going to make a distinction about similar names like that, they should be prepared to start genericizing lots of players with non-super hero style names since those kinds of names are found all over in various mediums (comics, TV, films, etc) with non-distinct appearances.

But here's a solution... since they haven't seemed to outlaw the use of the name itself, only its use combined with a blonde female in non-specific clothes, why not ask if you can maintain the name with a different look? Like maybe with red, brown, or black hair of a notably different length and style.

On your end, you could consider it part of your character's disguise so that there's less chance people recognize her in her secret identity. For them, its no longer a character that is too close to the comic character... just having a similar but different name and being female.

And screw Mitch! Keep going higher. ;)

[suburbanhell]

That sucks Light. Would it be an awful change to her history to swap her Middle and First names, so that she'd be Elizabeth Abigail Chase instead? At least this way you could keep part of your creation...

[Grae Knight]

People who petition stuff like this suck hard.

[Gold Rush]

I was gonna suggest something along the lines of Burbs. Change the names around; call her "Beth" or "Liz" and tell your friends to call her "Abbey".

But what Nerfed says seems a better course, :)

[The Lightningale]

Thanks for the suggestions and sympathy. I've reopened the issue with Mitch, arguing in greater detail (and after some research) for what makes the Danger Girl IP more than just a name and a face. Since I'm no Danger Girl expert, I hope I'm right about it, and we'll see what he says.

I've considered both changing the name and changing her costume, and while they both seem to be potentially elegant solutions to the problem, I'm still trying to get what I consider to be justice before I decide what I want to do next. The main problem with changing her name is simply the attachment I have to the old one. Changing Batman's secret ID to Boris Wayne would tick a lot of people off, and changing Abigail Chase to Elizabeth Chase or Abigail Charles would tick me off. ;)

As far as the hair color, I'm less sure. Originally, my intention was to have Chase come forward as the Lightningale and begin to merge her public and private identities. But I suppose she could continue to disguise herself. I'll have to think on it a bit more.