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

[Mortuorum]

Question: how come Bethesda's lawyers allowed the company to publish game called Oblivion* when these titles already existed?
Into Oblivion [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intblivion_(video_game)]
Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turok_3:_Shadow_of_Oblivion]

Guess trademark isn't so important when it's someone else's trademark?

---
*Yes, I know the title was technically The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, but that's not what stands out when you're looking at the title screen.

 

[Thyunda]

And they've proven a lack of will to come to any sort of legal agreement/compromise with their target in question, which is a very dubious choice of targets indeed. This could have been resolved without Bethesda going all Edge on that @ss.

Um, they didn't choose the target? If you were the head of Bethesda, and you choice was Defend your mark, or lose the rights to the Elder Scrolls name, you can't honestly tell me you'd forfeit that trademark.

But they come out looking like the bad guys because they're the herp derp big money man coming down on the little guy. No, they are bound to file a suit when the USPTO finds that a potential trademark conflict exists, because as I said, if they don't sue, it establishes a precedent. Some Tom will come out with "Skyrings", and all his lawyers have to do is "Well this Notch guy got away with it, why are we so different?"

I submit the evidence of "Mockbusters". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mockbuster

Far more blatant "trademark conflicts" than Edge or Scrolls has to offer; and all blissfully, shamelessly scamming their way around the world. This is just more suits with hammers looking for anything that resembles a nail.

Precendent? What, so because there is a "Star Wars", should we sue anyone who uses the words "Star" or "War(s)" in their titles? While a battle to the death between the Star Wars and Star Trek brands would be amusing, could that be anything but an awful joke in a court of law? If those two industry titans can get over it, Bethesda sure as hell can and should.

And, what's your point? Because they don't want to defend their mark from dilution, or in Star Trek's case, can't because Star Wars has been around too long, nobody should? The USPTO is telling them that Scrolls: could potentially dilute the Elder Scrolls: trademark, what the fuck do you want them to do? If they drop it, that CAN'T sue anyone else for trademark dilution. Well they can, but you're giving any defendants a legal bazooka to fight you with. Suddenly they're in the same boat as those movie studios you referred to.

Only if someone uses the Elder Scrolls name verbatim would they have a case. I don't personally see an infringement here, but I don't get to make that call. The patent office does, and they have. Don't blame Bethesda for playing the game, blame the government for making the rules.

Perhaps the key phrase here is "could potentially dilute". Does "could" somehow legally equal "does"? I doubt it and suspect there is a legal mechanism in place where "could"(s) can be dismissed/ignored without yielding said trademark.

I still believe that if all those giant, powerful brands out there can get over it then so should Juvenile Scrolls: Skyrim.

Actually, I suspect that the capacity to do something is often treated the same as 'has actually done so'. Especially where trademarks are concerned.

 

[Normandyfoxtrot]

-snip-

I suspect you are probably correct.

 

[Stitches Retro]

Bethesda has just lost 92% of my respect.
Good fucking jobs guys!

 

[Drake Barron]

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.

Is that really true, because that seems like you just extrapolated the info of this case into something irrelevant and untrue.

I'd like to point out to everyone, as I said in my last post, that you are correct and that is not true in any way shape or form. Nor is the idea that if Bethesda does not sue Mojang they won't be able to protect their trademark in the future. The amount of lies and misconceptions that are in the Original Post in this thread and in the article written by the escapist magazine employee and published to another site makes me wonder how much Bethesda is paying them. I honestly can't imagine any other way someone could put their name to something so utterly wrong and misleading. I'm assuming Bethesda is attempting to come back from the absolute devastation to their PR and at this point I wouldn't put it past them to pay people off to publish articles favoring them on high traffic websites. Like this one.

 

[CaptainKoala]

The only people who would ever hear 'elder scrolls' or 'scrolls' in conversation are obviously somewhat avid gamers already, and that demographic could tell you the difference between the two in a heartbeat.

 

[Drake Barron]

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.

Is that really true, because that seems like you just extrapolated the info of this case into something irrelevant and untrue.

I'd like to point out to everyone, as I said in my last post, that you are correct and that is not true in any way shape or form. Nor is the idea that if Bethesda does not sue Mojang they won't be able to protect their trademark in the future. The amount of lies and misconceptions that are in the Original Post in this thread and in the article written by the escapist magazine employee and published to another site makes me wonder how much Bethesda is paying them. I honestly can't imagine any other way someone could put their name to something so utterly wrong and misleading. I'm assuming Bethesda is attempting to come back from the absolute devastation to their PR and at this point I wouldn't put it past them to pay people off to publish articles favoring them on high traffic websites. Like this one.

Games Journalists...are not...PAID OFF!!!!!!!!! You really think he's gonna risk his credibility by taking a bribe over a news story? Take that shit to NeoGaf.

I'd love to believe that, but as I said: the amount of straight up lies, slightly altered truths, and biased slant of the article seem to point to only that, or someone who just hates Mojang and let it affect their Journalism.

 

[imperfect number]

'snip'

I'd love to believe that, but as I said: the amount of straight up lies, slightly altered truths, and biased slant of the article seem to point to only that, or someone who just hates Mojang and let it affect their Journalism.

Lets actually look at the claims in the article before you say stuff like this.

1) The USPTO stated that 'scrolls' is not sufficently different from 'the elder scrolls' to 'overcome a likelyhood of confusion'
The journalist is just reporting what the USPTO said. He then reworded the statement to make it slightly clearer, that the USPTO believes that consumers would confuse one with the other.
That the USPTO may be acting like idiots in this particular case does not make the Journalist a liar.

2) That Failing to protect a trademark can damage ones claim to the trademark.
The journalist quotes a expert on the matter, so even if this is not true, (and it is true), the Journalist is not lying, the expert is or is mistaken.

3)The people at Bethesda aren't happy about having to go to court.
again a quote being reported.

if you want to claim that the article if full of 'straight up lies', you need to show that one of these people did not in fact say what they did.

 

[Sylveria]

I still don't get why the people who created Ninja Scroll aren't suing the both of them. That title is older than either of the parties involved. Judging by the way the law is written, replacement of a word and pluralization of another is not enough to avoid confusion either.