3D Realms is making a Duke Nukem throwback called Ion Maiden, taking the character originally introduced in Bombshell and giving her a second chance at life.  Shelly "Bombshell" Harrison is a cop on the streets of Neo DC fighting a cybernetic cult, running through intricate settings that pretend the simplification of FPS level design in the mid-2000s never happened.  Iron Maiden is a classic heavy metal band that's been active for over 40 years, earning every bit of its fan base through decades of killer music.  In addition to touring and making albums Iron Maiden has also released a mobile game and an excellent pinball table, Legacy of the Beast, both of which featured the band's mascot Eddie in his various incarnations over the years.  There's no question that Iron Maiden was here first, but it's going to be up to the courts to decide if the name similarities are enough to create trademark infringement.

Iron Maiden Holdings Limited, the band's holding company, is suing 3D Realms for trademark infringement causing "confusion among consumers".  Per the website Blabbermouth, which has the bulk of the text of the filing, "Defendant's Ion Maiden name is nearly identical to the IRON MAIDEN trademark in appearance, sound and overall commercial impression."  Which is technically true, in that they sound very similar and are only off by a single letter.  After that things kind of fly off the rails a bit.  After talking about the chance of confusion for a customer to think Iron Maiden is affiliated with Ion Maiden, the filing goes on to note "...there is even more evidence of likelihood of confusion. 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..." without mentioning the game Bombshell, which gave the character her name back in early 2016 and was in development for a good long while beforehand.

 

Other accusations come for the game logo and its yellow bomb emoji icon- "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" 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."  That's the kind of statement that seems like it should require a very special type of lawyer to make stick.

The claim then wanders into supporting-anecdote territory- "There have been numerous instances of actual confusion with IRON MAIDEN fans believing that Defendants' Ion Maiden products are related to IRON MAIDEN. Actual confusion has occurred in online articles and comments about the Ion Maiden video game including IRON MAIDEN fans: 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 they (Defendant) 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. In addition, a review of the Ion Maiden game stated that the Ion Maiden name references 'Brit Rocker' IRON MAIDEN."  Speaking as someone who has to take a moment to untangle which game is Outer Wilds and which Outer Worlds, I get it, but whether that's enough for copyright infringement is another question entirely.  A few weaknesses in the initial filing and the complete lack of similarity between Ion Maiden and anything Iron Maiden has ever released aren't going to negate the name similarities.  The rest will be up to the lawyers to sort out.

The lawsuit is seeking two million in statutory damages and either a cancelation of the ionmaiden.com web address or giving it over to Iron Maiden.  While there's no official response from 3D Realms as yet, one of the developers of Ion Maiden popped into the Steam forums to assure fans that the game won't be pulled from sale.

-Update-