Company changes name to resolve trademark dispute with Valve; Blizzard allowed to keep using the DOTA name only for noncommercial use for the player community.

Blizzard DOTA is now Blizzard All-Stars, the name change stemming from Valve and Blizzard's recent dispute over rights to the DOTA name. As part of the resolution, Valve will keep using the DOTA 2 name for its in-development game, while Blizzard's continued use of DOTA will be limited to noncommercial use for the Warcraft III and Starcraft II communities.

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Blizzard executive VP of game design Rob Pardo explained the change in a statement, saying, "Both Blizzard and Valve recognize that, at the end of the day, players just want to be able to play the games they're looking forward to, so we're happy to come to an agreement that helps both of us stay focused on that. As part of this agreement, we're going to be changing the name of Blizzard DOTA to Blizzard All-Stars, which ultimately better reflects the design of our game. We look forward to going into more detail on that at a later date."

For Valve's side of the story, co-founder Gabe Newell said, "We're pleased that we could come to an agreement with Blizzard without drawing things out in a way that would benefit no one. We both want to focus on the things our fans care about, creating and shipping great games for our communities."

The dispute started in November, when Blizzard filed a notice of opposition with the US Patent and Trademark Office to Valve's promotion of DOTA 2. The DOTA name comes from a Warcraft III mod called Defense of the Ancients. In its opposition, Blizzard states that the DOTA name "for more than seven years has been used exclusively by Blizzard and its fan community, under license from Blizzard" and that Valve filed its trademark on the name "in order to confuse consumers as to Blizzard's sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of Valve's products." In Valve's response, the company said that Blizzard cannot claim exclusive rights to the name and that its own rights to DOTA are senior to any claims made by Blizzard.

Both Valve and Blizzard have said they aren't planning to release further details about the agreement.

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