Making Trouble for NCSoft...

[Bob Schroeck]

If COH is not rescued, this might be a way to make a "retributive strike" at NCSoft.  But it'll need the help of a friendly lawyer or two.
Every time we agree to the terms of service to get into the game, one of the things we do is give NCSoft a bunch of rights to our intellectual property -- our characters.  Now, it's been a year or two since I last read those terms, but I seem to recall that they're rather comprehensive and "in perpetuity" things.  If NCSoft refuses any and all offers of purchase or licensing, shutters COH, and sits on it, maybe we can get a class action IP suit going to get those rights back on the grounds that they're wasting the potential of those properties.  It might not work, but even if it doesn't, NCSoft will still have to spend money and time dealing with the challenge, and I can't think of a better way to strike back at them than that.
-- Bob
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Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Rev Dark]

They would have a rough time trying to leverage those rights, especially if you could document that the character existed prior to being created in COH.  At best they could claim that they hold the rights to use that character in the COH universe only, and it would be a pretty dubious claim - I doubt it would stand up in court.

[Dragonflight]

I imagine, as a way of avoiding any potential claim of copyright infringement in potential future releases, such a theoretical offering would only have home-made characters. The same way the only heroes and villains that appeared in the mainstream CoX game were their own creations. It wouldn't be worth the hassle of someone seeing *their* creation on a box cover somewhere and slapping a lawsuit on them.
So I strongly suspect that if you tried this, all you'd get is a blanket agreement not to use fan-created characters in future works without purchasing the rights first, and a counter-suit for harassment.
I'd avoid the lawsuit angle. Anyone with millions of dollars to spend is going to win. That's just the ugly truth to court battles. He with the most money usually wins.
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Those who fear the darkness have never seen what the light can do.

[Ankhani]

First off, I am of the belief that a "retributive strike" of any form is not in good faith and poor form on our parts, especially if it is solely for the purpose of causing them trouble and costing them money. That's just a dick move, and as said, would be likely grounds for a harassment suit on their part.

It'd take some more through reading of the Terms to see exactly what they're but as far as I can tell in a cursory perusal, they're just claiming you can't market/include/profit off of CoH characters (i.e. Their Universe Cannon), even if you created them. Take them out of the CoH universe, and likely everything's fair game. Furthermore, I rather doubt they're going to be actively policing to see if you're breaking one potentially dubious technicality in an agreement for a game that no longer exists. Not worth their time unless it's an egregious violation and/or likely to come to a quick and profitable settlement.
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The Master said: "It is all in vain! I have never yet seen a man who can perceive his own faults and bring the charge home against himself."

>Analects: Book V, Chaper XXVI