Notch Challenges Bethesda to Lawsuit Deathmatch

[Orange Monkey]

I believe Bethesda was just slapped across the face with a white glove.

THE GAUNTLET HAS BEEN THROWN MY FRIENDS!

 

[Sir Seagull]

Let the games... BEGIN!

If, of course, Bethesda has the stones for it.

I suggest Notch go on ("its) a rampage (Lana!") if not.

Bethesda just stepped into the... dangerzone.

Duh and or Hello? I love Archer...
Anyway WE NEED LIVE STREAMING OF THIS BATTLE!

 

[LJJ1991]

A duel? Among men? Let it begin!

 

[chiefohara]

If it stops money being wasted on parasitical lawyers then im all in favour of it.

 

[Carnagath]

Amusing, but not gonna happen. Notch is free to take the piss, but Bethesda would ridicule themselves if they accepted this, it would be like admiting that they are suing people for the lulz, when I would assume they are quite serious about their retarded lawsuit.

 

[Roybot]

THIS IS HOW THE INDUSTRY SHOULD SETTLE ALL DISPUTES!

 

[fanklok]

Bethesda does own Id yes? Notch may as well have said "I give up".

 

[Geisterkarle]

Fu*** crazy shit! I like it!

But does anybody remember Max Payne (1 - i think) when this one boss is getting a blow job and telling a story of two gangsters, that settle a fight by playing a video game?
"... I had to clobber them to death with their game pads!" (something like that...)

 

[shiajun]

Well, as a cool and smarty pants PR move to rally gamers to him, Notch gets my applause.

You all, however, keep forgetting that all of this started because Notch tried to trademark the word Scrolls. Not "The Elder Scrolls", like Bethesda has. No. Just "Scrolls". Notch is playing the part of Tim Langdell and Bethesda the role of EA and DICE in this new season of trademark nonsense. Sued by Bethesda or not, Notch is a real troll for trying to trademark the word scrolls in the first place. This move only gives him enough coolness to go back to the neutral state after the dickish attempt to trademark a noun.

Remember, Notch tried to trademark the noun scrolls. How about you guys step back and think about why you are defending this in the first place and reign back the hypocrisy?

Because there has never been a video game with a single-word title before.

Umm...what? There are plenty of games with single-word titles throughout the years. A lot of them were common nouns too. Your statement is not only wrong, it's not even a valid argument. What does it matter if there has or hasn't been a game with a single-word title before? No company (indie or whatever) should be able to trademark a common noun for their exclusive use. A phrase, like "the elder scrolls" is now a specific combination of words that has quite a bigger argument to be able to trademark.

Just for the record, I do not side by companies bullying with power. Bethesda shouldn't be able to bully Mojang because "scrolls" is just a part of the name they trademarked, not the entirety of it. However, Mojang should not have to right to trademark scrolls just as Tim Langdell shouldn't have had the right to trademark edge. People bash him rightly so, but then turn around and applaud Notch when he is proceeding in the same manner (most likely without the same intent of lawsuit trolling, but that's another matter).

First of all, sarcasm, learn it. Second of all, Valve, Half-Life, Steam, Portal, and Source. These are all words trademarked by Valve and no one is giving them shit for it(http://www.valvesoftware.com/legal.html). So why are you giving Notch shit when he would be effectively doing the same thing? Notch is just trying to name his game Scrolls, he's not gonna go after people who decide to use that word in their title as well.

It's not a particular rant againts Notch himself, just a system of trademarking that allows for common nouns to be coopted by companies. Again, neither Mojang, nor Valve, nor Apple, nor Microsoft, nor anyone should really be allowed to trademark a single, common word. As the system stands I am quite fuzzy on how the legal process would allow one to defend prior use of the word in the same market as a competitor and association with a brand without trademarking it, but I'm a firm believer that as the system is set up this kind of idiotic scuffles between companies will continue to happen and that means it's broken.

 

[ElectrifiedSorcerer]

Bethesda Exec 1: Hey, so I noticed we're not getting enough bad press
Bethesda Exec 2: Yeah, what's up with that?
Bethesda Exec 1: I know, right? We should do something that'll make us look like massive, out-of-touch tools
Bethesda Exec 2: What, like add some obscene new DRM to our new games?
Bethesda Exec 1: No, that's too obvious. Hey, I got an idea. Why don't we sue a really popular indie developer over something ridiculous?
Bethesda Exec 2: Like claim they stole a gameplay mechanic from one of our games?
Bethesda Exec 1: No, that's not douchey enough...Hey, why don't we sue them over something really idiotic, like their use of one of our titles. Or better yet, HALF of one of our titles. And not even the title of a game, it could be the series that the game is a part of!
Bethesda Exec 2: So we're essentially suing someone over the use of a noun that we have no claim over?
Bethesda Exec 1: Yeah, something really douchey like that! And we'll pick a really popular dev. Probably one who has actually been plagiarized in the past and has dealt with it in a super classy way. Maybe even someone who'll have a sense of humor about our frivolous lawsuit and do something really cool that'll make us look like absolute douche canoes.
Bethesda Exec 2: Christ, we might even score a boycott or two off something this awesome

 

[BabyRaptor]

That's just all sorts of awesome...All lawsuits should be settled in ways similar to this.

 

[Mortuorum]

Considering the lawsuit is spectacularly stupid to begin with, I'd say the best thing that could happen is BethSoft say yes. And then if they win, drop the suit anyways and take the Notch guys out for beer. Then fire whomever was responsible for this mess in the first place.

 

[Flying Dagger]

Looking at this with a common sense standpoint, this seems like a stupid way to settle a legal dispute. And it's scary how many gamers seem to think this is a good idea rather than thinking about it and realise that we should uphold the law rather than flipping a coin.

Also the cost of hiring the best three quake players and entering them into the competition would be cheaper than a law suit.

 

[Unesh52]

See, the ultimate ending to all this would be for Bethesda to win and force Mojang to change the name to something like "Funk Buster 9000."

 

[The Heavy Metal Nerd]

If this goes though....it will be among the GREATEST MOMENTS IN GAMING HISTORY.

DO IT, BETHESDA!!!!

 

[xcgillx2]

this is how all legal game related disputes should be settled. by having some sort of match between the people involved

 

[Speakercone]

See, the ultimate ending to all this would be for Bethesda to win and force Mojang to change the name to something like "Funk Buster 9000."

I would buy that game. I would buy it 9 times.

On Topic:
Sometimes I think Notch is a mad genius.

He's made it so that Bethesda has to choose between protecting their supposed trademark on the word 'scrolls' or suffering unknown PR damage. They can't even choose to ignore it as this will cause PR damage as well.

If Mojang ever sells shares, I want to be first in line.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

Hypothetically speaking, when they do a deathmatch, I hope Mojang kick Bethesda's arse. Bethesda is just a tangled mess of a company, (Publishers, Lawyers, Developers) Mojang is a straight forward development team that all LOVE all things games, GO MOJANG!

This is the best idea I've heard all day.

This is the best idea I've heard for years.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

Looking at this with a common sense standpoint, this seems like a stupid way to settle a legal dispute. And it's scary how many gamers seem to think this is a good idea rather than thinking about it and realise that we should uphold the law rather than flipping a coin.

Also the cost of hiring the best three quake players and entering them into the competition would be cheaper than a law suit.

I think the point is Notch is trying to settle a stupid dispute in a stupid way. You don't seriously agree that 'Scrolls' is infringing on 'The Elder Scrolls' do you?

 

[OdyCay]

epic idea