Hey, guys? Did anyone notice who wrote the Kotaku article? It's a republish from some guy's blog [http://www.falsegravity.com/]. Ahem:
Heh.
Mojang Offered Up Scrolls Trademark, Bethsoft Said "No"
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
- Start date
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I was thinking of buying Skyrim, wont be buying it anymore. I got Dark Souls and dont want to fund Bethesdas legal department. Notch offered to death match them for the title rights (quake 3 i believe), that would have been fucking epic, but nooo... had to be all lame and drag decent people through the mud out of fucked up motives.
Plus Bethesda games are buggy as hell, Fallout and Oblivion did terrible things to my system, havent bought any of there games since.
Plus Bethesda games are buggy as hell, Fallout and Oblivion did terrible things to my system, havent bought any of there games since.
Or maybe they thought its easier to stomp out any future games that dare to use the word "Scrolls" in their name here and now instead of waiting for another game with "scrolls" in their name to pop up.
Alternatively, they are sending a clear message: "Use the word 'scrolls' in your game and we won't hesitate to bring you to court".
Alternatively, they are sending a clear message: "Use the word 'scrolls' in your game and we won't hesitate to bring you to court".
The issue is not Mojang being able to sue Bethesda, it's that Bethesda would no longer (in theory) be able to protect their trademark IF scrolls infringed on their product. The problem with that is Scrolls does not infringe any trademarks. I am, however, confused as to why bethesda refused Notch giving up the name.AC10 said:
0_o
...Why, Bethesda? The guy gave up the damn trademark. Why the hell are you still trying to sue?
....This isn't good publicity, man...You guys should have just settled this VIA quake 3 deathmatch.
...Why, Bethesda? The guy gave up the damn trademark. Why the hell are you still trying to sue?
....This isn't good publicity, man...You guys should have just settled this VIA quake 3 deathmatch.
Thanks Betheseda, you made me feel guilty for wanting to buy stuff from your evil, stupid company...not that it will matter when skyrim is released but still.
For that to be the case Bethesda/Zenimax might actually have to say something. As it is so far, only Notch has been wooing the court of public opinion, while the other party is keeping it strictly professional.Lilani said:
Until something more comes out of this than Notch milking gamer sympathy, I'm not too eager to wade in.
If he's lying he's going to burn far worse for it, as he's published Zenimax's court papers and they show a blistering eagerness to use Wikipedia pages and sarcastic forum posts as evidence. If he says online that he told them X when he didn't, you can bet it's going to end up in court as evidence of bad faith negotiating and further proof he needs a legal smackdown.TheKasp said:
Well this made me smile. I knew I'd seen that name somewhere before...Formica Archonis said:
Nonetheless I agree with him.
...But why? They already decided to drop the name from what I understand? Why go into overkill mode for something like this?
Why can't anyone wait until it actually get to the courts for hearing, before making an decisions. At this point it is nothing but unconfirmed Hersay.
Trademark and Copyright disputes are almost never black and white situations. And considering the "big guys bored legal team"as everyone calls it, would know that if they filed a frivilous lawsuit, then it would open them up for a lawsuit right back from Notch, in which Zenimax wouldn't be able to fight really.
Perhaps it would be best that all the arm chair lawyers just shut up, until actual court papers are avaliable for public display, and the first arguements are given.
Trademark and Copyright disputes are almost never black and white situations. And considering the "big guys bored legal team"as everyone calls it, would know that if they filed a frivilous lawsuit, then it would open them up for a lawsuit right back from Notch, in which Zenimax wouldn't be able to fight really.
Perhaps it would be best that all the arm chair lawyers just shut up, until actual court papers are avaliable for public display, and the first arguements are given.
I'll have to defend Zenimax here because the U.S. legal System is to blame here. Mojang could have used the "Scrolls" Trademark to fuck with "Elder Scrolls" and have Zenimax pay Money, true. Also: You have to defend your Trademarks against any "Attack" even if you know you're going to lose because otherwise future Courts will acknowledge your being rather indifferent about Claims that overlap with your Trademark.
If Zenimax wont cause a Ruckus over "Scrolls", a Judge may be inclined to give "Elder Parchments" a Pass because Zenimax wasn't all that interested back then.
If Zenimax doesn't more stubbornly for their "Elder Scrolls" and anything that sounds remotely like it, they make themselves vulnerable to real Infringements in the Future.
The U.S. legal System is rather "odd", to say the least. The Idea behind this to discourage Companies from using the Law to attack their Competitors and no one else or in other Words: they can't allow People to use a Patent and sue other People over the same thing.
So Zenimax is basically suing Mojang because if they don't, they'll have a hard time to sue other People who "really" infringe on Zenimax Trademarks.
If Zenimax wont cause a Ruckus over "Scrolls", a Judge may be inclined to give "Elder Parchments" a Pass because Zenimax wasn't all that interested back then.
If Zenimax doesn't more stubbornly for their "Elder Scrolls" and anything that sounds remotely like it, they make themselves vulnerable to real Infringements in the Future.
The U.S. legal System is rather "odd", to say the least. The Idea behind this to discourage Companies from using the Law to attack their Competitors and no one else or in other Words: they can't allow People to use a Patent and sue other People over the same thing.
So Zenimax is basically suing Mojang because if they don't, they'll have a hard time to sue other People who "really" infringe on Zenimax Trademarks.
Nice one-sided article. They're going to Swedish court, so Bethesda cannot win money from them. And Notch ignored a cease and desist letter from Bethesda and is surprised there are consequences? He must have missed that life lesson when he was on vacation for the 500th time. He wanted the trademark 'Scrolls' to basically encompass the entire fucking word, and changing it from 'Scrolls' to 'Scrolls: (subtitle)' is a joke.
Bethesda is suing them so their goddamn game franchise can't be forced to rename because some fat fuck wants to own a word. Of course, the manchild can't see this, because he just wants to be the flavor of the month.
And I hate, HATE how people classify Mojang as 'indie' just because Notch says they are, when the profits from their game make real indie studios look like a college student's life savings. But no, let's rally around Notch because his MILLIONS aren't as plentiful as ZeniMax's.
Bethesda is suing them so their goddamn game franchise can't be forced to rename because some fat fuck wants to own a word. Of course, the manchild can't see this, because he just wants to be the flavor of the month.
And I hate, HATE how people classify Mojang as 'indie' just because Notch says they are, when the profits from their game make real indie studios look like a college student's life savings. But no, let's rally around Notch because his MILLIONS aren't as plentiful as ZeniMax's.
I realize that Notch is everyone's darling and can do no wrong. But by filing the trademark on "Scrolls" he set up a situation where if Bethesda/Zenimax do not respond, Notch can go all Tim Langdell on them and cost them millions of dollars at the release of Skyrim. It's easy to say that Notch isn't that sort, and it sounds like he's tried to offer an olive branch, but he's done so in a very informal way that doesn't really provide the protections that Bethesda/Zenimax rightly feel they need.
The best bit is that "The Elder Scrolls" and "Scrolls" are two entirely different things. I hope Bethesda loses just for their stupidity. (I'm not siding with Mojang tho cos I'm not overall fussed, I just want Bethesda to lose. Then again, an enemy of an enemy and so on....)
Actually, yes.Argtee said:
Indie Dev- Mojang. Has probably under 30 guys working there.
Triple A dev - Bethesda. Over 100.
Bethesda has a lot more power behind their legal and how big their teams are. Quite literally, Bethesda could squish him quite easily. Bethesda, no one, ever, ever calls your games the Scroll series, we call them by their title, like Morrowind, or Skyrim, not scrolls.
What gets me is Bethesda are suing Majong over the name scrolls because they didn't want people to get mixed up and not buy Skyrim, but it seems to me that they will lose more sales now because of this anyhow. Silly Silly Bethesda