Iron Maiden Sue 'Ion Maiden' Video Game Makers for $2M - Loudwire

Iron Maiden, via their holding company, have filed a $2 million lawsuit against the makers of a video game called Ion Maiden, the Daily Beast has reported. Launched Thursday (May 30), the case claims developer 3D Realms aimed “incredibly blatant” trademark infringement at the band with the similarly named video game title.

Was it so similar it led to "confusion among consumers"? That's what Iron Maiden's lawsuit alleges. In the suit, the band's lawyers argue that 3D Realms—best known as the creators of the Duke Nukem video game franchise—used advertising that gives the same "overall commercial impression" as the classic heavy metal act.

"Defendant's Ion Maiden name is nearly identical to the Iron Maiden trademark in appearance, sound and overall commercial impression," a portion of the lawsuit reads. "Defendant also uses the Ion Maiden name to sell merchandise including shirts and mouse pads."

But that's not all. The lawsuit also takes the company to task for allegedly naming an Ion Maiden character after band founder Steve Harris, retooling Iron Maiden's logo, and more, as Blabbermouth reported. Not only that, but the suit underscores the fact that the band have their own video game called Legacy of the Beast:

"That evidence includes the fact that Defendant has exhibited its intent to trade off on the Iron Maiden mark by adopting Shelly Harrison as the name of its main character which is an attempt to copy the name of Steve Harris, an Iron Maiden founder and primary songwriter; adopting a similar steel cut font for its Ion Maiden name knowing that Iron Maiden also uses a steel cut font for its iconic Iron Maiden mark; creating a video game that has the same look and feel as the Iron Maiden video game, 'Legacy Of The Beast'; and choosing to use its Ion Maiden Yellow Bomb emoji in its Ion Maiden video game and merchandise which is graphically similar to Iron Maiden's Eddie character who appears in all of Iron Maiden's video games and virtually all of Iron Maiden's compact disc covers, t-shirts and other merchandise."

Is it a case of federal trademark infringement? In the lawsuit, the unfair competition charge for the “virtually identical imitation” of the band’s trademark also joins a request for the company to give up the ionmaiden.com website and transfer it over to band ownership.

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