3D Realms is no stranger to legal disputes: in 2013, the company sued Gearbox for unpaid royalties pertaining to the Duke Nukem series, and one year later was in turn sued by Gearbox for attempting to develop a Duke Nukem game. While that title never came to fruition, the company would produce a game called Bombshell later on that year. In 2018, 3D Realms announced that it was making a prequel to Bombshell called Ion Maiden - and that's where the trouble began.
Iron Maiden, the English heavy metal band that has been performing for some 49 years, has taken issue with the game being named Ion Maiden. The band claims that both the logo for Ion Maiden and its marketing is 'an effort to confuse consumers into believing [the] Defendant’s products and services are somehow affiliated with or approved by Iron Maiden', and has asked for the Ion Maiden website to be removed or handed over to the band, along with a hefty $2 million in damages.
The lawsuit, filed in California on May 28, postulates that 3D Realms has misappropriated the Iron Maiden trademark in a manner that will create confusion among consumers. 3D Realms has released an official response to the lawsuit on Twitter, calling many of the claims in the suit 'frivolous claims anyone who has played Ion Maiden would find more over the top than Shelly’s Loverboy'. The company has yet to receive the official legal notice, and will review its options once that notice arrives.
The company stated that the developers will continue working on the game, which is slated to for a full release later this year. It's currently available as an early access title on Steam.
Iron Maiden claims that there have already been numerous occasions where consumers have mistaken Ion Maiden for something Iron Maiden-related, and included several examples of things confused consumers have done within the lawsuit:
- ...commenting that they were misled into believing that the Ion Maiden game was an Iron Maiden game.”
- “...clicking on an Ion Maiden online thread thinking that the thread was related to Iron Maiden.”
- “...reading an article about the Ion Maiden video game waiting for an explained connection to Iron Maiden.”
- “...wondering the whole time, while reading an article about the Ion Maiden video game, how [3D Realms] got the license to use the Ion Maiden name (from Iron Maiden).”
- “...expressing genuine excitement for an Iron Maiden video game.”
- “...and commenting that ‘all that’s missing is an … Iron Maiden soundtrack’ and that the Iron Maiden song ‘Can I Play with Madness’ would fit right in.”
Back in 2009, Iron Maiden successfully sued Naughty Dog founder Jason Rubin after he made a comic called Iron and the Maiden. After the lawsuit, the Crash Bandicoot creator was forced to change the comic's name to The Iron Saint.
The band's legal counsel is evidently vigilant about the Iron Maiden name, so 3D Realms will more than likely be in for quite a fight to defend the use of Ion Maiden - though only time will tell if the company is forced to 'run to the hills'.
Ion Maiden is available now on Steam via early access, with a full release scheduled for later this year.
Source: Kotaku