Hey, I thought about it a little, maybe it's just nonsense but it's a coincidence that stimulates my imagination:
Minecraft, even though still in beta, has apparently sold more than 3 million copies(!!) arleady and since it's officialy released on November 11, the same day as Skyrim, that's potentially 3 million gamers that will not rush to buy Skyrim on release day because they will be too busy playing Minecraft (I know I will - though I would certainly not rush to buy Skyrim anyway). And as I'm often reminded day one sales are the most important because after that the hype fades out, pirates make their cracks etc. etc.
So now it would make sense if Bethesda wants Minecraft to change it's release date, since they wouldn't want to take the credibility hit by changing Skyrim's release date. But I suppose they don't have no legal reason to demand that so they are trying to bully Notch into doing what they want by hitting him any way the can. Maybe part of the settlement agreement (or whatever it's called) is the change of Minecraft's release date?
If there's any true to that I sincerely hope Beth will be crushed... after all if I'm not mistaken Minecraft's release date was announced a while before Skyrim's.