Get This! Bethesda taking Mojang to court!

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gargar

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There was some news post earlier this week about Bethesda threatening Mojang (makers of Minecraft) with a lawsuit if they won't change the name of their upcoming game (which is named Scrolls).

As it happens Bethesda filled a lawsuit a few days ago against Mojang in the Swedish court.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/...illy_Bethesda_Scrolls_Case_Heads_To_Court.php

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/09/27/bethesda-vs-mojang-scrolls-case-going-to-court/

http://twitter.com/#!/notch/statuses/118644693801250816

This is so dumb and from now on I'm boycotting Bethesda.
 
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This started off looking like the usual trigger-happy corporate lawyer move that gets called off as soon as a real human being gets involved, but it's gone on to just be ridiculous. They can't possibly hope to be seen as anything but a moustache-twirling villain by doing this. Big, increasingly sell-out company taking on everyone's favorite hugely successful indie? S-M-R-T!
 
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BREAKING NEWS:

Bethesda to sue developers who use the word "The" in their titles.

They'll be taking on developer Culture Brain next for Flying Dragon: The Secret Scroll.

After that they are going after manufacturers that make generic mice with a scroll wheel that "scrolls".

Just when I start to like these guys they pull this nonsense. Oh and I know someone will say they have to protect their IP or some such nonsense. I might have believed that if they hadn't been so sue happy already with lawsuit after lawsuit going after FOOL.

Bethesda is looking like Games Workshop or even TSR which is better known as They Sue Regularly.
 
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I'm quite annoyed by this. How can they even hope to win this? All it will result in is them generating a lot of sympathy for Mojang and anger directed towards Bethesda. Me, I'm seriously considering not buying Skyrim until it hits the bargain bins because of this (and I've been quite good at sticking to these things, I still don't buy games with an always online DRM).
 
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The way I see it.... Was the TES Construction Kit called "Scrolls Construction Kit." ??

Can anyone go back and find at any point a default install path or anything that refers to c:\games\scrolls for any of their games?

It's "The Elder Scrolls" not "Scrolls" and always shortened to "TES".
 
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You are aware that its Notch the Martyr's company Mojang that is trademarking single common words and not Bethesda/Zenimax right?

Trademark law is totally fubar and pretty much requires trademark owners to defend against things like this in court. Or else next year if someone try to make "The Scrolls Elder" RPG next year they would be on shaky ground as they rolled over in this case. If they lose this case they are still on better ground than if they never fought at all for when the next infringement comes.
 
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figment said:
You are aware that its Notch the Martyr's company Mojang that is trademarking single common words and not Bethesda/Zenimax right?
Click to expand...

Yeah, it appears a little more complicated than the "big company acting like asses" above postings would indicate.

TSR tried something like that with trademarking "Dungeon" in the 90s and went so far as to ban any other products with "Dungeon" in their name from being sold at GenCon.
 
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This is actually the point where I firmly believe that the brand name related and patent related laws should be massively overhauled ...
 
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Whatever… I have seen and heard many nonsenical stuff, but this one was the most nonsenical of all.

If they dare, they shall sue me and I'll rap them with the rhythm of the "The".

Let me tell you something. If by any chance I create my own games as a director and producer, since I'm an author, I'll name them "Paradisia: The Secrets of Paradise" and "Red Dream - The Lovecraftian Effect" and let see if they dare do something on me. They must not mess with a Greek. :p
 
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Writing on his Tumblr page, Notch explains that "about half a year ago," his company's legal team suggested registering "Minecraft" as a trademark. In the process, Mojang also filed to register "Scrolls," killing two birds with one stone. Notch writes that "A while later, out of the blue, we got contacted by Bethesda's lawyers. They wanted to know more about the 'Scrolls' trademark we were applying for, and claimed it conflicted with their existing trademark 'The Elder Scrolls.'" At the time, Mojang responded by offering what Notch calls a compromise: "We'd agree to never put any words in front of 'Scrolls,' and instead call sequels and other things something along the lines of 'Scrolls - The Banana Expansion.'" In his piece, he says that he's not sure if Mojang ever heard back.
Click to expand...

[SOURCE]

This is a win win for Mojang… Even if they lose the court battle it's basically free publicity(little guy gets bullied by big bad beth; poor poor Mojang needs your support) and then they just have to change the game's name to something else. As it stands now, the prevailing party in these cases does not receive an award of attorney's fees - only in exceptional cases are awards given.

A possible fix for frivolous/baseless trademark disputes/cases is a shift to a "loser pays" system. That would give small companies(with a valid case) access to council they would not have otherwise(IE attorneys would be paid on contingency)…

In this case I think the blame lies mostly at Mojang's feet. They forced Zeni/Beth into defending their trademark by attempting to trademark the word "scrolls". If the owner of a trademark does not act against infringing usage then an "intent to abandon may be inferred"(aka they might lose their trademark).
 
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Actually if Mojang gets the trademark on "Scrolls" then any game that has the word "Scrolls" in the title would be infringing their Trademark. That is probably one of the reasons for the lawsuit; especially since Bethesda has the Trademark for "The Elderscrolls" in which only the aforementioned or something very similar (like "The Eldarscrolls") would be an act of Trademark infringement.
 
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Patent law confuses the hell out of me. So Bethesda isn't the one trying to claim everything "scrolls" related, it's Notch?

When the hell did the world suddenly stop making sense. Bethesda helps create the excellent rpg New Vegas and indie Minecraft creator is trying to scoop up everything with the name scrolls in it.

That's it! I want off this planet. I got my towel and I'm ready to go.
 
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The problem is if the law is properly followed their Trademark request wouldn't be accepted because of per-existence and it being a common word but with how things have gone in the past (Windows) I wouldn't be surprised about them getting the Trademark.
 
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Does it not have to be a reasonable chance of the two getting confused with each other for such a case to really hold? I can think of a previous example (involving a Swedish company) where two games containing the word Doom could coexist.
Doom & Doom trooper (the later was originally a board game that was later made into a really bad 2d platformer)
 
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skavenhorde said:
BREAKING NEWS:

Bethesda to sue developers who use the word "The" in their titles.

They'll be taking on developer Culture Brain next for Flying Dragon: The Secret Scroll.

After that they are going after manufacturers that make generic mice with a scroll wheel that "scrolls".

Just when I start to like these guys they pull this nonsense. Oh and I know someone will say they have to protect their IP or some such nonsense. I might have believed that if they hadn't been so sue happy already with lawsuit after lawsuit going after FOOL.

Bethesda is looking like Games Workshop or even TSR which is better known as They Sue Regularly.
Click to expand...

CEASE and DESIST notice.
Please refrain from using our clients trademarks in your post in the future, or we will commence legal proceedings and hold you liable and file for payment of damages and liabilities to, including but not exclusive to:
Zenimax Media (Bethesda softworks, The Elder Scrolls)
Mojang (scrolls)
Gathering of Developers
Sue's Diner
Rampant Games
Looking glass Studios
Happy the Clown
Apple (iDevices)
Bioware (Dragon Age)



With regards,
WOSE & WOODMEN, LLP
 
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