Court Shoots Down Bethesda's Scrolls Request

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
45,698
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Court Shoots Down Bethesda's Scrolls Request


A Swedish court denies Bethesda's request for a preliminary injunction against Mojang and its new game Scrolls.

Mojang and Bethesda - actually its parent company Zenimax Media Inc. - have been wound up in court [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/112364-Notch-Challenges-Bethesda-to-Lawsuit-Deathmatch]. And while they're a long way from any kind of resolution, the scoreboard is already lit up, with the first point going to Mojang.

"We won the interim injunction!," Markus "Notch" Persson tweeted [http://twitter.com/#!/notch/status/126196998826242048] this morning. "We can keep using the name 'Scrolls'. ZeniMax/Bethesda can still appeal the ruling, but I'm very happy. :D"

The reality of the situation is a bit more nuanced than that. According to the English language summation [http://i.imgur.com/q33mW.jpg]] the court denied Zenimax's request for an interim injunction against Scrolls, which would have prevented the further use of the Scrolls name by Mojang until the case is actually decided. Win or lose, the ruling would not, and does not, signify any kind of conclusion to the matter; it's just one step, and a fairly early one, in the process.

It does appear to be a good sign for Mojang, however. Because requests for interim injunctions come early in the game, decisions on them are made with less evidence in play and therefore a lower evidentiary threshold. Despite that, the court ruled in favor of Mojang, saying that while there are similarities between Scrolls [http://www.amazon.com/Elder-Scrolls-V-Skyrim-Xbox-360/dp/B004HYK956/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318948845&sr=8-1], there are also significant differences, and the intended audience for these games are likely to be aware of these differences and, more to the point, unlikely to confuse them.

Bethesda has three weeks to appeal the ruling.

via: Woem [http://www.minecraftforum.net/news/274-scrolls-shall-stay-scrolls/] for the tip.


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Wieke

Quite Dutch.
Mar 30, 2009
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You may want to change the news's title, cause it's a wee bit misleading.
 
Jun 11, 2008
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Ah people already delighted at this kind of amuses me considering that Zenimax more or less had to sue for copyright laws reasons or it could lose the copyright. Just because people and companies do this doesn't mean that they always want to do it.
 

Antari

Music Slave
Nov 4, 2009
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It is good to see the judge making an intelligent decision on the matter. I don't see myself confusing any of The Elder Scroll games with Scrolls from Mojang. A brain dead lawyer working for Zenimax however is a whole different story.
 

Ragsnstitches

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Dec 2, 2009
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I figured it would go this way. Zeni have not much to stand on in regards to the case.

BUT, that doesn't mean Zeni are evil and this is David vs Goliath or some such. I hope for some level headed responses but I have doubts such things can exist over this.

It was a petty case... but Zeni had the right to pursue it.
 

Ranorak

Tamer of the Coffee mug!
Feb 17, 2010
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Antari said:
It is good to see the judge making an intelligent decision on the matter. I don't see myself confusing any of The Elder Scroll games with Scrolls from Mojang. A brain dead lawyer working for Zenimax however is a whole different story.
Ugh, It's been said a hundred times.
It's not the hardcore gaming crowd that is going to get confused.
It's the mothers, grandmothers and casual players that might get things crossed.

But that's not even the point.

The point of this whole issue is that Notch filed a trademark on the word scrolls, and when won, mean that HE would own the trademark of that word in any "Fantasy Based Video game" and not only that, but radio, tv-shows and even t-shirts as well.

This would mean that if Bethesda let this happen, Notch can effectively demand that they change their title.

Not only that, but even if Notch and Bethesda were to say "Eh, I know you won't screw us, and you know we won't screw you. So lets ignore this.", then that would mean that other companies would use that as a legal example and thus could Trademark "The Elder Browls" Because Bethesda is okay with such things.
 

Agow95

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Jul 29, 2011
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GO MOJANG!!! Its just stupid some of these lawsuits you see, it's fantastic that for once common sense is being taken into consideration (thank God for the swedish courts)
 

Fayathon

Professional Lurker
Nov 18, 2009
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As it has been said before, both parties win in this because Zenimax has shown that they will act if their trademark is perceived as threatened, and Mojang wins because they (probably) won't have to change the name of their new game. Let's hope it stays that way, and everyone gets to walk away happy in the end.
 

Antari

Music Slave
Nov 4, 2009
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Ranorak said:
Antari said:
It is good to see the judge making an intelligent decision on the matter. I don't see myself confusing any of The Elder Scroll games with Scrolls from Mojang. A brain dead lawyer working for Zenimax however is a whole different story.
Ugh, It's been said a hundred times.
It's not the hardcore gaming crowd that is going to get confused.
It's the mothers, grandmothers and casual players that might get things crossed.

But that's not even the point.

The point of this whole issue is that Notch filed a trademark on the word scrolls, and when won, mean that HE would own the trademark of that word in any "Fantasy Based Video game" and not only that, but radio, tv-shows and even t-shirts as well.

This would mean that if Bethesda let this happen, Notch can effectively demand that they change their title.

Not only that, but even if Notch and Bethesda were to say "Eh, I know you won't screw us, and you know we won't screw you. So lets ignore this.", then that would mean that other companies would use that as a legal example and thus could Trademark "The Elder Browls" Because Bethesda is okay with such things.
Actually no ... Mojang can't demand a trademark that was there before his company even existed be changed. It doesn't quite work that way.

This is an example of Bethesda taking a small up and coming company to court to bleed them dry. Nothing more, nothing less. I'm not concerned by what conclusions others have come to.
 

Lizardon

Robot in Disguise
Mar 22, 2010
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So between now and the court case, the game, which isn't finished yet, can still be referred to as Scrolls. I don't think it's as big a deal as people are making it out to be, this was just the beginning. Although it does bode well for Mojang that the judge sided with them.

If Mojang wins the case, does that mean they'll be able to trademark the word Scrolls? Or is that a whole other can of worms?

EDIT
Antari said:
Actually no ... Mojang can't demand a trademark that was there before his company even existed be changed. It doesn't quite work that way.

This is an example of Bethesda taking a small up and coming company to court to bleed them dry. Nothing more, nothing less. I'm not concerned by what conclusions others have come to.
Actually to be fair to Zenimax, according to the trademark laws if they didn't fight Mojang's trademark of Scrolls, they would be unable to fight any other infringes on there trademark of Elder Scrolls due to the precedent set.
 

Antari

Music Slave
Nov 4, 2009
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Lizardon said:
So between now and the court case, the game, which isn't finished yet, can still be referred to as Scrolls. I don't think it's as big a deal as people are making it out to be, this was just the beginning. Although it does bode well for Mojang that the judge sided with them.

If Mojang wins the case, does that mean they'll be able to trademark the word Scrolls? Or is that a whole other can of worms?
That would be an entirely different can of worms he'll have to open once hes done with this. If he can afford it. Which is kind of why Bethesda/Zenimax is doing this.
 

Hungry Donner

Henchman
Mar 19, 2009
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Glademaster said:
Ah people already delighted at this kind of amuses me considering that Zenimax more or less had to sue for copyright laws reasons or it could lose the copyright. Just because people and companies do this doesn't mean that they always want to do it.
Yeah, copyright laws are horrible in this regard. There should be some legal review that allows a company in Zenimax's position to "defend their copyright" without taking it entirely to court. The fact that Zenimax could potentially have their "Elder Scrolls" copyright declared undefended because they didn't go after "Scrolls" is ridiculous.

As for injunctions, it isn't uncommon for a company to win their case, but then lose an injunction when it's appealed. If it's difficult to get an injunction with a court victory under your belt it's even less likely to get one at the beginning. But as Notch said at the very beginning of this, this is really just lawyers being lawyers. . . I just wish he had shut up about acknowledging that fact. I love Minecraft, I love Mojang, but Notch is really starting to bother me.
 

fenrizz

New member
Feb 7, 2009
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Jibblejab said:
I wanted Bethesda to win, mostly because I have Notch with a fiery passion.
Why do you hate him so much?
I'm very curious about this...


OT:
Good for Mojang.
We cannot allow these kinds of lawsuits to go trough.

I mean, what's next, some guy suing everything and everyone that uses the word edge?
 

Tharwen

Ep. VI: Return of the turret
May 7, 2009
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HOW COULD THERE BE ANY OTHER OUTCOME YOU CAN'T COPYRIGHT A WORD IT'S STUPID

Wieke said:
You may want to change the news's title, cause it's a wee bit misleading.
First rule of the Escapist: The news headlines are misleading

Second rule: Check the sources before taking the article as truth

Third rule: Check your forum health bar before making posts like this one
 

DasDestroyer

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Apr 3, 2010
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Once again, Bethesda get the "we're defending the trademark" stamp and Mojang get "Scroll", and everybody is happy.