Bethesda Says Mojang's Scrolls Infringes on Elder Scrolls Mark

[CM156_v1legacy]

Law is the law after all.

THANK YOU.

This sounds like something both groups will work out quickly. I doubt Bethesda wants people banging the "Boycott Skyrim" drum yet.

If Bethesda didn't own Brink,Rage and Obsidian right now my rage for them would be accumulating even tho I don't particularly find Mojang that hypeworthy.

I didn't know they owned Obsidian. If they do, why did they work for Square Enix with Dungeon Seige 3?

OT: We don't know all the legal mumbo-jumbo yet. I'll have to ask my uncle what he thinks next time I see him

 

[Post Tenebrae Morte]

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

Fuck off ZeniMax.

It is Zenimax people, not Bethesda. ZeniMax owns Bethesda. Stop going "OMG teh Beths suck!", your only acting like quite the child. Publishers have done worse, don't let such minor acts drive you into a uproar.

Some people just act as if this shows how Skyrim will be quality wise.

~Efrit

 

[Catalyst6]

I also doubt a card game and open world RPG will have much of a consumer clash.

I'm more worried about why they think that Skyrim and a card game are so very familiar... I mean, we haven't seen a ton of gameplay, maybe Bethesda has been very choosey about what they show us and keeping the 99% of the game that is deck-based under wraps.

 

[LJJ1991]

Because Bethesda is the VERY first game studio every to use the word "Scrolls" in their name... or "Elder"... or "The." Bravo, lawyers... Bravo.

 

[Blatherscythe]

I really hope it's just a stupid lawyer, because I really don't want one of my favorite videogame producers to be associated with that prick Langdell.

 

[Lt. Vinciti]

Bethesda's lawyer seems to be the biggest dick (cheapest?) they could hire....

I dont think its really their fault...this lawyer prolly has some nice backing so he can willynilly...

Didnt Notch say that Scrolls wouldnt be done for a bit of time?

How often do people use the words "Elder Scrolls" beyond the "Elder Scrolls series" seriously its always

Morrowind
Oblivion
Skyrim
F3
New Vegas

No one uses full names...

Black Ops
BlOps
Modern Warfare


See what I mean..

 

[drakythe]

I'm still surprised that Squeenix didn't sue MistWalker over the Last Story...

Last = Final
Story = Fantasy

Sorry, I have to just poke my head in here. Same guy made both games. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hironobu_Sakaguchi

I know Squeenix owns the Final Fantasy trademark, but it would've been the height of silliness for them to sue the guy who invented it because he wanted to use a similar name.

OT: Completely asinine move, regardless of who initiated it and for what reason. Scrolls =! Elder Scrolls. Oy.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Somewhere in the world a lawyer is facepalming and regretting the public images of lawyers who suffer from frivolous stuff like this.

I guess people do you use the shortened "scrolls" to describe the Elder Scrolls so there is something but its not much to stand on. I think consumers will see the difference.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Yay! I get to use this video. This is my response to the lawyers of Bethesda. Not necessarily Bethesda, unless they are actually responsible, and not overzealous lawyers.

 

[dancinginfernal]

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

Here you are, good sir.

 

[Slayer_2]

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?

Mojang is more than just some hotdog vendor, it's a pop culture phenomenon. And just as much competition as a AAA studio.

The Adventure update is without a doubt heavy competition for Skyrim given its nature.

I dunno, Minecraft has had great sales, but I wouldn't call yet another patch for it competition for a new game from a AAA studio. As cool as 1.8 looks, I doubt it'd compete much. Also, don't discount console gamers, they easily outnumber PC gamers for gross sales, and how many of them can play MC on their xbox or playstation?

Either way, I hope Zenimax realizes how stupid a move this is, no one likes a big corporation targeting a little indie group. If this thing goes too far, it's gonna lead to some stupid boycott that won't really affect sales, but will fling more poo at Bethesda's reputation.

 

[Laser Priest]

Bethesda, you make good games. Sit back and make them. Don't embarrass yourself with bullshit like this.

Edit: Never mind, Bethesda. Stay Classy. But tell Zenimax to shut the fuck up.

 

[Civico]

Bethesda has no claim, Wizards of the Coast however has a patent on anything that resembles a Trading card or collector card setup. This applies to digital or otherwise.

 

[koolgool]

I hope that Bethesda realizes how much this will hurt themselves, as well as their fanbase, if they go through with this. If they were smart, and I like to think that they are, they'd drop these shenanigans and continue on as normal. No one's going to confuse "The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim" with "Scrolls". That's like confusing "Halo: Combat Evolved" and "Front Mission Evolved".

 

[Mr Pantomime]

well its silly, but it just seems like an automated response. Im sure Bethesda would have more class than to send such a letter if they were actually serious.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

They have stupid lawyers ... assholes...

There is no other kind of lawyer than stupid lawyer assholes.

Actually there is. Shit lawyers.

 

[Rensenhito]

Bethesda: "Hey! That's OUR word!"
Everyone else: "...Scrolls scrolls scrolly scrolls all over my scrolls and the scrolls of my scrolls."

Really though, Bethesda. This is about the worst kind of thing you can do for your image. Scrolls has little to nothing to do with TES besides the name and the fact that it uses fantasy tropes. In fact, one could argue it's a completely different genre of game.
Also, after typing the word "scrolls" over and over again, I've just noticed how weird that word is.

 

[DementedSheep]

They are trying to trademark common words now? It?s not like they even have the same name, it?s just part of the name. Are they going to trademark "the" and "elder" too? I could kind of understand them being pissed if Mojang?s game was also very similar to their games but it doesn?t sound like it is. It's a strategy game and its called scrolls because you actually use magic scrolls.
Surely they don't have a leg to stand on with this? I can't imagine them winning in court.

 

[Luke Cartner]

And why shouldn't they defend their trademarks? They've done the right thing by Notch informing him nice and early. Well before he'd face any real costs re-branding. Chances are h applied for a trademark of the word Scrolls for his game, it triggered their lawyers as a possibly infringing trademark and they jumped to the defense of their franchise. If you think this over zealous then trust me it not its just part of doing business

 

[bob1052]

I think a lot of this stems from how trademark law actually works.

If you don't actively enforce your trademark rights, you lose the trademark. Therefore it is safer to chase after anything that even remotely resembles infringement than to wait until a later date and hope you catch anything that is big enough to warrant trouble.

Basically, if Bethesda lets this slide without any trouble, and then next year some random person tries to make an "Elder Scrolls" game, they could cite Mojang's "Scrolls" as proof that Bethesda has not enforced, and therefore no longer has rights to their "Elder Scrolls" trademark.

Regardless of how much of a case Bethesda has, they have no choice but to take action in this situation. The outcome isn't important to Bethesda, as Mojang isn't stealing actual content nor trying to mask his game as one of theirs and therefore will not cause them any damage either way but the act of defending the trademark against something that could be remotely considered infringement is, however, very important to Bethesda.