Bethesda Says Mojang's Scrolls Infringes on Elder Scrolls Mark

[Sonic Doctor]

Those lawyers are troll-tastic, just like the guy that was wonderfully rubbed out of existence in this thread.

I give a pat on the back to the mods. It's always fun to be reading some troll antics and poof, oh, where'd he go? Keep up the awesome.

 

[Slayer_2]

I have a difficult time believing that Bethesda thinks they're going to win this one.

I think they're trying to delay the Adventure update so that they can release Skyrim more unopposed. And if that's the case, well fuck you too Bethesda.

I don't think they're doing it to delay the update, that's a little too evil. Still, this is bullshit, no way this can stand up in court.

This is actually something that is fairly common. Companies sue other companies just to ruin their plans.

Sometimes, yes. But this is the equivalent of McDonalds going after a hotdog vendor working a corner in downtown. I know Bethesda is a big hated company (the next Activision, perhaps), but really?

 

[Ledan]

At the top of that letter to notch, the lawyer states that he is acting on behalf of ZeniMax Media Inc.
So does Bethesda have anything to do with this? Maybe the publisher is just trying to grab a few bucks off of Mojang.

 

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

What? Really? So if I got a kitten and called it Scrolls would they try and sue me too?

 

[Weaver]

Surely you can use the word "scrolls" in a video game title. Maybe Microsoft has a trademark on "scoll bar" and they're going to sue zenimax now.

 

[rolandoftheeld]

I am always so torn about Bethesda. They make amazing games - I loved Oblivion and Fallout 3, can't wait to start New Vegas which I just got, and I'm sure I'll love Skyrim in 20 years when I have a computer that can run it. But they are so terrible at PR. They don't upkeep their games after a few months, even not fixing game-breaking bugs, and it seems like every few months something like this pops up. I think the company itself may be an autistic savant.

 

[Robert Ewing]

Lulzy Bethesda. By this logic, any form of media with the word 'wars' in it is a complete copy write infringement on Star Wars.

Also, I guess some minecraft fans won't feel guilty giving Bethesda some pirate related problems in November.

 

[ServebotFrank]

Those lawyers are troll-tastic, just like the guy that was wonderfully rubbed out of existence in this thread.

I give a pat on the back to the mods. It's always fun to be reading some troll antics and poof, oh, where'd he go? Keep up the awesome.

I was looking for his profile. It's just gone. Crazy. They went Time Police on his ass.

I can't find him on my history. It's like Back to the Future where Doc say, "Erased...from existence."

 

[Sonic Doctor]

Those lawyers are troll-tastic, just like the guy that was wonderfully rubbed out of existence in this thread.

I give a pat on the back to the mods. It's always fun to be reading some troll antics and poof, oh, where'd he go? Keep up the awesome.

I was looking for his profile. It's just gone. Crazy. They went Time Police on his ass.

Yeah, it's one of those times I think about creating a virtual cookie and cake dispenser for the mods.

It's also kind of like the forum equivalent of a Jedi mind-trick.

Mods: There is no troll here, you are happily discussing how lawyers are being stupid.

Me: Lawyers, they are stupid.

 

[Anchupom]

I bring up Elder Scrolls and 60% of the time I get asked, "What is that?" and have to respond with Oblivion and then they go, "Oh!"

Same, one of my friends has taken to referring 11-11-11 as "skyrim day" and most of the time still blanks when I say the words Elder Scrolls

 

[Isalan]

This just in. I have copyrighted the word "the". You all owe me a squillion pounds. Each.

 

[Pat8u]

but todd and notch are friends how can this happen...

 

[cfehunter]

well isn't this insane. Taking legal action against a company because the name of their product is contained within your products' name.

This is like blizzard trying to take legal action because minecraft contains the sylabal "craft".

I still love bethesda but wow they need to strike off their legal department.

 

[The Random One]

It's understandable, since copyright law is very fidgety and if you don't defend it it can be used against you in cases people are actually trying to dupe people. At least they're sending the letter now and not after the domain and logos and advertising campaign are all underway.

...OH CRAP I'M SCROLLING THE PAGE, IN YOUR FACE BETHESDA

 

[Venereus]

but todd and notch are friends how can this happen...

Here's how:
http://www.wikihow.com/End-a-Fight-with-a-Friend

 

[Rage4Kon]

... I intend to?

... so do I

 

[Lullabye]

Can't Bethesda just shut up and take my money? In no-way was a mincraft update going to deter me from buying what looks like one of the best games to come out this year. Just what the fuck are those lawyers thinking?
And to top things off, Notch is going to win by a landslide if this whole things does go through, because a) it's stupid to begin with and b)He now has the backing of the gaming commmunity(or at least the ones that care)

 

[Kaymish]

ya know i know everyone loves minecraft and Bethesda is seen as a big company and therefore hated for some weird reason but we have no facts has anyone else bar me stepped back and seen that Bethesda and zeni-max does not have a reputation for randomly suing people
and that notch may actually be infringing on the elder scrolls trade mark in some way? in which case Bethesda softworks would have to initiate legal actions or risk losing their trademark to someone actually evil like activation who has a history of suing people and trying to steal peoples trade marks

 

[Podunk]

Maybe they thought that people wouldn't want their smelly old scrolls if people can get fresh new Scrolls?

 

[robert01]

Saw this on another site, it's actually ZeniMax. Bethesda's parent company, not Bethesda itself.

Could you source this please, i'd also like to read that article.
Never heard of that[ZeniMax being bethesda's parent company], but i'm not uptodate anyway

go here: http://bethsoft.com/ and read the bold small print (© 2011 Bethesda Softworks LLC, a ZeniMax Media company. All Rights Reserved.)

OT: I doubt this will hold up in court. Bethesda will have to do a lot of bullshitting to get the courts to agree with them saying the 'Scrolls' is going to get confused with 'The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind/Oblivion/Skyrim'. Companies claiming that using words in that happen to appear in the names of the franchises is a very slippery slope that will backlash on them very quickly because most game companies make games that share words with franchises that were created before them. This will be like Blizzard trying to sue companies that use the word 'CRAFT' in their game titles because it would be confusing with they products and brand(I don't know Swedish but it actually looks like that reference was used in the document...)