Iron Maiden, the English heavy metal band has recently filed a two million-dollar trade mark infringement lawsuit against a video game developer, 3D Realms. The lawsuit pertains to a game called ÂIon Maiden and was filed on Tuesday by the bandÂs holding company, Iron Maiden Holdings Limited which accused 3D Realms of creating Âconfusion among consumersÂ.
According to the lawsuit, the ÂDefendant’s Ion Maiden name is nearly identical to the Iron Maiden trade mark in appearance, sound and overall commercial impression. Defendant also uses the Ion Maiden name to sell merchandise including shirts and mouse padsÂ. Furthermore, the lawsuit goes on to expound that the ÂDefendant’s infringement is incredibly blatant. Defendant is undoubtedly aware of Iron Maiden’s existence and is attempting to trade off on Iron Maiden’s notoriety because, inter alia, Defendant chose to use the virtually exact Iron Maiden trade mark and was instructed to cease and desist by Plaintiff. In response thereto, Defendant abandoned its Ion Maiden trade mark application but chose to defiantly continue to use its Ion Maiden markÂ.
As well as the two million-dollar statutory damages claim, the lawsuit also requires the above-mentioned video game developer to either cancel the registration of the domain name: ionmaiden.com, or alternatively, to transfer the ownership of the said registration to Iron Maiden.
