Iron Maiden, a heavy metal band is suing 3D Realms, a video game development company over the game Ion Maiden, as they describe it is an ‘incredibly blatant’ infringement on their trademark.
A video game development company 3D Realms recently tweeted on their official Twitter account that they have heard about a lawsuit filed in California by the band Iron Maiden claiming that their game is infringing their Iron Maiden’s trademark.
Not only that the lawsuit claims that their main character Shelly Harrison, in Bombshell, is based on their musician Steve Harris, the skull bomb icon found in-game is based on their skeleton mascot Eddie; not only that Ion Maiden’s logo in itself is based on theirs, and along with other frivolous claims anyone who has played.
(1/4) We’ve recently heard about a lawsuit filed in California by the band Iron Maiden, claiming our old-school first-person shooter Ion Maiden (@Bombshell_Game) is infringing on their trademark.
From what we’ve heard, the suit claims our main character…
— 3D Realms (@3DRealms) May 30, 2019
Ion Maiden has been available via Steam early access since February 2018, however, the full release is set for later this year. The lawsuit that Iron Maiden filed against the game development company has demand $2m in damages, argues that the game’s title will cause “confusion among consumers”, “is nearly identical to the Iron Maiden trademark in appearance, sound and overall commercial impression”, and “is attempting to trade off on Iron Maiden’s notoriety” as reported by The Guardian .
Later in the extended tweet, 3D realms said: “will review our options once we receive official notice of the lawsuit and will make any necessary decisions at the appropriate time”.
The game is still in development, and 3D Realms adds that “everyone continues to work diligently on Ion Maiden to deliver the best possible experience later this year” the development company concluded.