Bethesda Doesn't Enjoy Being "Forced" into Mojang Lawsuit

Marshall Honorof

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Bethesda Doesn't Enjoy Being "Forced" into Mojang Lawsuit


Neither Mojang nor Bethesda wanted a lawsuit, but international copyright law is a harsh mistress.

In case you haven't been paying attention to the Mojang vs. Bethesda lawsuit [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/113339-Mojang-and-Bethesda-Are-Going-to-Court], here's a brief summary: Minecraft creator Notch wants to call his next game Scrolls. Bethesda feels this is too close to its decades-old Elder Scrolls copyright. Now, sparks are flying as the two sides gear up for a court battle. Bethesda wants to protect customers from potential confusion, while Notch believes that Bethesda is being too draconian in enforcing its trademark.

Mojang's efforts to assuage Bethesda by offering to forego a trademark [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/113450-Mojang-Offered-Up-Scrolls-Trademark-Bethsoft-Said-No] fell on deaf ears. "We wanted to end things in a friendly way where we met them half-way," said Markus "Notch" Persson. I am a huge fan of Bethesda's work ... Picking a fight with my idols seemed like a silly idea."

Although Notch's ideas are diplomatic, international copyright law is rarely clear-cut enough for a 50/50 compromise. The United States Patent and Trademark Office, after reviewing the facts at hand, concluded that "[Regarding] THE ELDER SCROLLS marks, the applicant has merely deleted the term ELDER from the registered mark. The mere deletion of wording from a registered mark may not be sufficient to overcome a likelihood of confusion." In other words, the U.S. government believes that removing a single word will not make consumers any less likely to conflate Scrolls and The Elder Scrolls. This conundrum gets even more confusing, since the lawsuit will take place in Swedish courts, and U.S. copyright legality may not hold much water overseas.

Pete Hines, a VP at Bethesda, maintains that the lawsuit has nothing to do with the studio's creative team and everything to do with the legal technicalities of trademarks. "This is a business matter based on how trademark law works and it will continue to be dealt with by lawyers who understand it, not by me or our developers," he explained. "Nobody here enjoys being forced into this. Hopefully it will all be resolved soon."

Mojang's desired use of the word "scrolls" seems innocent enough, but if Bethesda does not protect its copyright, other companies could produce deliberately-confusing titles like The Eldest Scrolls: Skyrings and leave Bethesda with no legal recourse. "Failing to protect a trademark could be damaging to an owner's rights," said Angela Bozzuti, a trademark law attorney. "Not only could it result in actual consumer confusion, but it could also weaken the strength of the mark in the marketplace. Furthermore ... it will likely weaken [Bethesda's] mark and make protection difficult and limited."

Now, Bethesda, Mojang, and the governments of Sweden and the U.S. all have resources invested in this case. Coming to a solution - much less one that pleases all parties - won't be easy.

Source: Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/5847295/mojang-v-bethesda-part-2-the-attorneys-and-notch--pete-weigh-in]

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Togs

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EDIT= Wow so many quotes, (some of which were kinda funny)- yes I know it could set an ugly precedent, but is the law really that blind? I mean "Scrolls" is fairly inert whereas "Skyrings" is blatant.
 

Gxas

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So... That one guy who trademarked "Edge" had a case after all? Or am I totally missing the point here?
 

Radeonx

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Now I'm all for protecting your copyrights and stuff, but considering that Notch has made TONS of efforts to compromise and Bethesda hasn't done jack shit, I'm going to hope that Bethesda loses; which they will, because this is in Sweden.
 
May 5, 2010
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While I'm really happy that you guys have finally pointed out the developers at Bethesda have nothing to do with this(hopefully discouraging that retarded boycott), I think this article was just a little biased. Last I checked, the issue here was that Mojang was trying to claim ownership of the word "scrolls", and that Bethesda was trying to stop him, for obvious reasons.

Like I said the LAST time this came up, just tell me if I'm wrong. I don't claim to be a legal expert. But that's my understanding of the issue, from reading the articles on this site.
 

Sixcess

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The silliest thing about this is that noone actually refers to these games as "The Elder Scrolls."

I sympathise with Bethesda, a little bit, but it's not the title of Mojang's game that needs changed. It's these idiotic laws.
 

Excludos

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The easiest solution for Bethesda, if they really feel like they're being forced into this, is to win the case, and then pay for the cost of court for both parties. That way, no one would think any less of them for protecting their own trademarks.
 

uppitycracker

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I don't get why Mojang doesn't just add a word or two, so there is a clear difference. In terms of court proceedings, Bethesda makes a great point. You throw a little leeway legally, and it can fuck up future cases from then on out. So yeah, while it may seem trivial and childish, it does have its place here. I'm sure it will be resolved pretty quickly and without much court interaction.
 

imnot

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Well this is all very confusing, now if you will excuse me I'm off to play Scrolls, OR DO I MEAN OBLIVION I DONT KNOW IM SO CONFUSED
 

Susan Arendt

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Jan 9, 2007
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Sixcess said:
The silliest thing about this is that noone actually refers to these games as "The Elder Scrolls."

I sympathise with Bethesda, a little bit, but it's not the title of Mojang's game that needs changed. It's these idiotic laws.
Yes, but until those laws change, Bethesda doesn't really have a choice. If they don't fight this, then they can't fight the guy who makes "The Older Scrolls: Flyrim." It's not Bethesda just being ornery; the US Trademark office said that Notch's offer to add a subhead to Scrolls (i.e. Scrolls: The Something-or-Other) wasn't enough to differentiate it from The Elder Scrolls. Given that ruling, and the vagaries of copyright law, there's not a whole lot of wiggle room here.

Does it defy common sense in a lot of ways? I don't think anyone's arguing that point at all. But the law is pretty clear in this case.
 

ph0b0s123

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Trademark Law is stupid. You want to trademark a phrase like Elder Scrolls fine, but then no-one can use any of the words in that phrase. Even though the constituent words are used in everyday language. No that's wrong.

Using this logic you now cannot name a game:
Gears
War
Bad
Company
Call
Duty
Elder
Scrolls
Grand
Theft
Auto
Need
Speed
etc

I could go on. Obviously it does not take long before most of the dictionary is gone.

I don't particularly blame Bethesda as they are doing what the law allows. This law needs reform quick as it is not moral to have ownership of commonly used English words. You make up a word, then fine. But otherwise hands off of corporate ownership of single words.
 

gigastar

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Sep 13, 2010
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The_root_of_all_evil said:
Summary? American Copyright Law is an ass and desperately needs to be changed.
I agree. This would have worked if the copyright claim was before the internet, in an age where people would only rarely come into contact with anything we find trivial today, but now with the internet anyone with two halves of a brain cell to rub together can look up any two games on Wikipeida with similar names and see who developed/published them.
 

countzero1234

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Feb 22, 2010
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This is *trademark* law not copyright law. While they all fall under the category of IP law they are not the same.

There are two important things with trademark. First, it is an entirely consumer driven protection, a lawsuit is won or loss on whether a common person would be confused. Second, if you do not actively defend a trademark then you forfeit its use essentially. Towards the second point a C&D might have been sufficient before Mojang made any legal move towards the trademark but now it may be impossible to 'let it slide'.