Bethesda Softworks - Legal Moves Against Notch?

From the it's-a-strange-world-department (and via RPS again) comes news that Bethsoft appear to have sent a legal notice to Notch (of Minecraft fame) claiming his new development Scrolls infringes on The Elder Scrolls.
OK.
More information.

So now Bethesda's legal department are like that dumbass that tried to sue EA over Mirror's Edge because he owned the rights to the word Edge.

Idiots.

Haha, this happens all the time, only in america

Best example throughout the years must be Monster Cable who sued to left and right anything that had "Monster" in its title. I mean wtf!?

Hardly good publicity for the company when they pull off these things.

Originally Posted by vurt
Haha, this happens all the time, only in america

Sweden you mean.

And yeah, it's stupid. Someone find a property that used the word "Elder" predominantly to make them look even more stupid.

Originally Posted by vurt
Haha, this happens all the time, only in america

Sweden you mean…

No we don't have the tradition of sueing everyone for everything here, yet.. We're still learning Buy yeah i know the minecraft dude is a swede, Bethsoft are americans to my knowledge, so no surprise there..

Originally Posted by vurt
Best example throughout the years must be Monster Cable who sued to left and right anything that had "Monster" in its title. I mean wtf!?

Monster got its ass handed to it at least once, when they went after a small company called Blue Jeans Cable. It turned out that the company owner had a previous two-decade career as a lawyer and he let them have it in classic form. Monster was expecting a cakewalk and they ran into a buzzsaw.

The relevant documents are online and worth a read. Sometimes the good guys win.

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/legal/mcp/index.htm

Nice, served them right

did EAgames buy Bethesda recently? If so this legal move could be becuase Notch doesn't want to sell the Mindcaft IP to them ….just seems insteresting :

http://www.kotaku.com.au/2011/08/min…le-to-ea-vibe/

Originally Posted by vurt
No we don't have the tradition of sueing everyone for everything here, yet.. We're still learning Buy yeah i know the minecraft dude is a swede, Bethsoft are americans to my knowledge, so no surprise there..

They were Swedish lawyers that contacted him. One assumes they would sue him in Sweden if they decided to, since Sweden honors US copyrights.

Originally Posted by DoctorNarrative
And yeah, it's stupid. Someone find a property that used the word "Elder" predominantly to make them look even more stupid.

There was an Activision game for the Atari 2600 called 'The Activision Decatholon' so we can get them on "The". Not as good a word but Activision can afford more lawyers.

Zenimax lawyers not Bethesda.

Technically correct but Zenimax is Bethsoft - see the recent interview with Todd Howard. Zenimax is nothing more than a holding company.

That said, I intended the newsbit to just say "Bethosft", not "Bethesda Softworks" - our news editor automatically applies the full title and I overlooked that. Will change it when I get home from work.

Originally Posted by bjon045
Zenimax lawyers not Bethesda.

I'm certain Zenimax handles all legal afairs of all its subsidiaries. It's on behalf of properties Bethesda handles, ergo it is directly related to Bethesda.

Sounds like Notch may have tried to trademark Scrolls itself. Zenimax is then defending themselves against possible infringment accusations in the reverse when they use Elder Scrolls. Yeah unlikely but if true Im not to bothered by their action.

Originally Posted by figment
Sounds like Notch may have tried to trademark Scrolls itself. Zenimax is then defending themselves against possible infringment accusations in the reverse when they use Elder Scrolls. Yeah unlikely but if true Im not to bothered by their action.

They already have a trademark for "The Elder Scrolls". There is nothing to defend against. Instead they are asserting that "Scrolls" in infringing upon their "The Elder Scrolls" trademark.

Remember that US copyright law is thoroughly fucked. There are tons of clauses about your copyright being at risk if you do not try to defend it. This ends up causing a lot of bullshit lawsuits like this while companies try to prove they are defending their copyrights.

Since when do company's own part of sentences or certain words. Just imagine getting fined if you use a word without approval.

Let's say I make a rpg called The Elder Reckoning. Guess I would be sued by two company's even though my game has nothing in common.

We live in a time of litigation and its good to be a lawyer . You never run out of cases and money. Remember people you can sue anyone today for any thing. I cant wait till copyright laws collapse in the next 10 years.

Never heard of Notch before, but I just informed myself and can say with certainty that I would never, not even completely drunk in the night at new moon confuse their CCG — for Computer Card Game — "Scrolls" with any Elder Scrolls game, let alone Skyrim.

Respect_for_Bethesda-=1

Hope this clears up without a lawsuit.

And then Bethesda sues Notch again be cause 'Minecraft' sound a little like 'Daggerfall' if you are far away, underwater and half deaf.

Seriously this has to be one of the most ridiculous things I've heard lately… it sounds more like bullying to me. Maybe these guys at Bethesda are just jealous because Notch makes more money than them without trying as hard and without wasting tons of it on awesome graphics, radiant intelligent mudcrabs and armies of marketing people and lawyers.



Hey also. does anyone think that this might actually have something to do with the fact that the official release date for Minecraft will be 11/11 - the same as Skyrim? I can't think of why, maybe it's just a coincidence, but if Bethesda is actually seriously scared by an indie's competition that'd be really awesome!