Iron Maiden suing 3D Realms over Ion Maiden

Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in 1975. Ion Maiden is a 90's-style FPS being published by 3D Realms. Have you ever gotten the two confused, or did you think that one was related to the other? Iron Maiden thinks you have, and they're suing 3D Realms over it.

Iron Maiden says Ion Maiden's logo and marketing is “an effort to confuse consumers into believing Defendant’s products and services are somehow affiliated with or approved by Iron Maiden.” The lawsuit claims that the “Defendant’s misappropriation and use of a virtually identical imitation of the Iron Maiden trademark creates a likelihood of confusion among consumers. Customers who view Defendant’s video game and merchandise are likely to believe that Iron Maiden is somehow affiliated with Defendant.”

Taking things a step further, the lawsuit says “there have been numerous instances of actual confusion with Iron Maiden fans believing that Defendants’ Ion Maiden products are related to Iron Maiden.” The following examples were given.

“...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.”

Iron Maiden is looking for $2 million in damages, and they'd like to see the game’s website (ionmaiden.com) taken down, or have ownership transferred over.