A U.S. district court judge in Los Angeles dismissed several key claims by comic book publisher Marvel Enterprises, Inc in the company's trademark and copyright infringement case against online computer game publisher NCsoft Corporation and game developer Cryptic Studios. Marvel sued NCsoft and Cryptic Studios in November of last year, claiming that the City of Heroes online computer game allows players to imitate comic book characters owned by Marvel. In a March 9 order, U.S. District Court Judge R. Gary Klausner agreed with NCsoft that some of Marvel's allegations and exhibits should be stricken as "false and sham" because certain allegedly infringing works depicted in Marvel's pleadings were created not by users, but by Marvel itself. The defendants have 10 days in which to answer and dispute Marvel's allegations and to assert legal defenses to the remaining claims as well as to assert any counterclaims - check full article for details.