Mojang and Bethesda Are Going to Court

[lovest harding]

I have to be honest. When I saw the trailer, I could see why Bethesda would be upset. Watching it, my first thought was that Scrolls was going to be a free roam RPG.

I don't think suing is exactly the right way to go, but I can see why it could confuse people (based on the name recognition and the trailer alone). I thought it was going to be very similar to The Elder Scrolls until I read more about it.

 

[Solid Reece]

I don't even refer to the elder scrolls games as Elder, Scrolls, or even Elder Scrolls. I'd rather just call them Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim.

 

[No_Remainders]

The case against Mojang's Scrolls is paper thin. Persson should counter sue Bethesda just for emotional distress and compensation for lost productivity due to these pointless court hearings.

I would fucking LOVE this.

It'd be hilarious watching Bethesda getting their asses handed to them, despite the fact that they seem to spend about 90% of their time finding new ways to try to sue people.

 

[silversnake4133]

Don't you just love how everyone wants to get a lawsuit just for product similarities anymore? Personally, I don't know what Bethesda is bitching about. Hell, do they even know how many items are named similarly if not exactly the same in this world? They'd lose count. If you were to search online for how many people shared someone's EXACT name you could get at least 10,000 hits of info. Bethesda is being childish and trying to act like a bully. I support Mojang in this case, not just for the sheer stupidity of what they're being charged for, but also because Notch was very lenient in terms of resolving this conflict without having to resort to a lawsuit. But no, Bethesda wouldn't have it. God it's like taking a child to a grocery store and he or she wants a specific flavor and brand of ice cream, but the parent didn't want to deviate from the budget he or she set forth, so he or she suggested the generic or a different type of ice cream. However that brand isn't what the child wanted therefore, he or she begins to throw a temper tantrum. Plus I don't think the customer base is really THAT stupid or inattentive Bethesda. I think we're smart enough to figure out that a game simply called "Scrolls" was different from "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim". If anything you're the stupid ones, making assumptions of a population that you don't even know, nor care to know about.

 

[xplosive59]

Who calls Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim Elder Scrolls anyway? Mojang should win of course! saying that I am a fan of Bethesda's games but this is ridiculous.

 

[Kopikatsu]

Notch had the right idea. Suing people is stupid. Everything should be settled by way of a Quake Deathmatch.

 

[silversnake4133]

Last I checked you couldn't copyright part of your game title but all of it. So someone quickly make a game called The Elder and see where it goes. I mean who doesn't want to play a 90 old grandpa yelling at children to get off his lawn meanwhile upping his xp to do more crazier shit. Like for instance pouring a bucket of piss all over his porch and sidewalk so the kids won't go on although that would clearly be a tier 3 skill of bat-shit-craziness

That sounds like it would actually be a pretty fun iPhone game. XD

 

[wildpeaks]

What happened to the Quake Deathmatch?

I'm disappointed too, that would have been awesome.

 

[Beryl77]

I'm not supporting Mojang because I like them or because they're the underdog getting bullied by the big evil company, it's just that this lawsuit is ridiculous and it shouws how stupid Bethesda thinks its playerbase is.
Also, user comments? From Youtube or what? It doesn't even matter actually. Wherever they take them from, user comments are so easily to fake and sarcasam is sometimes really hard to notice on the internet that they should never be able to present user comments as evidence. I just hope the court understands that.
I still don't get why Bethesda is willing to get such bad reputation (especially so short before the release of Skyrim) only for something as stuid as this. Honestly, how many people refer to the games as "The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind"? I don't even remember when I or others have ever said that, it's always just "Oblivion" or "Skyrim". There is no resemblence at all between Skyrim and Scrolls. That leaves me only with the conclusion that they think we're all idiots.

 

[draythefingerless]

ahah silly bethesda...european courts arent a playground. youre fuckin lucky the judge doesnt charge you with shit for wasting court time and resources.

 

[razer17]

Bethesda are being fucking stupid. You can't just have copyright on the word "Scrolls". They didn't invent it. They haven't made a game named scrolls. Barely anyone even uses the term Elder Scrolls. No one ever says ES: Oblivion. It's just Oblviion, or Morrowind etc.

 

[Formica Archonis]

According to Kaplan, Bethesda's lawyers plan to use user comments about Scrolls videos, articles about the game and even screen shots to prove that gamers are likely to confuse Scrolls with the Elder Scrolls franchise.

Can Mojang then use the user comments where gamers said "LOL I went to the Bethesda booth and asked them where Notch is!" or "Spent half an hour asking Skyrim demo guy about Scrolls. ROFLCOPTER!" as proof that the evidence is 95% people trolling Bethesda?

When it became obvious (from where I sit anyway) that the Skyrim demo people had been trained to answer Scrolls-is-not-Elder-Scrolls questions I think the trolls should've realized that this was big-boy business, but... sigh, trolls amirite?

 

[gCrusher]

I wish him luck; regrettably, even Anon_Guy_1337 stating (Made Up Word Here) is a racial slur on Urban Dictionary has been used in court cases to great effect. Ignorance on the part of jurors or those with granted power to make executive decisions makes this so.

 

[nixonsnow]

Good for Bethesda.

I hope they get to see Mojang driven before them.

I don't know if you're being sarcastic or not, but I agree. Too many Mojang fanboys on here, crying over this. Mojang should just change the name. I mean, "Scrolls"? Really? Show some imagination, plug.

 

[kebab4you]

So being really sucky at law BUT what do mojang have to prove? Isn't it up to bethesda to prove that people indeed are confusing scrolls for the elder scrolls franchise?

 

[Cat of Doom]

Huh, if this was EA instead of Bethesda suing over something this silly, the internet will be set alight with rage, everyone boycotting the old republic and the next dragon age game, comparing EA to the devil and slandering origin for some reason. Some developers like Bethesda and others *Cough* Valve *Cough* get free passes when they pull dick moves I suppose.

 

[Bloodstain]

I may be hated for this, but I am actually on Bethesda's side. Scrolls and Elder Scrolls are indeed very similar and looking at the picture above, [crolls seems to be an RPG...some people might actually think there is a connection.
Unless said scrolls play an essential part in your game, just change the name!

Edit: One thing I agree with, however, is that a Quake Deathmatch would be a much better way of settling this. Sitting down, playing the game and the winner wins the case, like gentlemen.

 

[Siege_TF]

Know what I called Morrowwind? I CALL IT MORROWWIND.
Know what I called Oblivion? I CALL IT OBLIVION.
Know what I call ths lawsuit? I CALL IT A TRAVESTY.

 

[Epona]

This is stupid. This makes me lose a little respect for Bethesda. What if NBC had sued George Lucas because Star Wars and Star Trek have the same first name.

 

[Chaos James]

It's sad, because Bethesda had the perfect chance to save face with the gamer community by accepting the Quake 3 Deathmatch. Heck, Streaming it live probably would of pulled in a huge crowd, especially to make up for threatening to sue Mojang in the first place.

But now they are just souring their appearance. I mean, I for one don't feel like getting any Bethesda game anymore (a shame considering Skyrim looks interesting), at least for a long while.

Also, why does it seem like Companies never look to Gamer Communities to see how things are going. If anyone at Bethesda had looked at some gamer sites (like, say, the Escapist) they would see two things: A)People aren't confusing the games and B)No one is liking Bethesda for this.

Anyways, I hope Mojang wins (as they should and hopefully will) and Bethesda won't have any of their games sitting in my place for a while.