Notch Challenges Bethesda to Lawsuit Deathmatch

[Doctor Glocktor]

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.

This is upholding the law; this is technically an out of Court settlement.

This is both perfectly legal and perfectly AWESOME.

 

[HaMSt3rBoT]

People keep pushing the fact that this is a dick move by Bethesda, but as far as I heard in one of the Escapist podcasts on the same subject, US law dictates that if they haven't got a history, WIN OR LOSE, of defending their copyright where ever they can, it would be near impossible to defend any subsequent cases against using even more similar names if they didn't pursue their trademark.

If Bethesda doesn't go for the Quake-off, I have a feeling it's going to get shut down anyway, but they'll atleast have sufficient history to defend any future cases.

And Notch, HELL YEAHHHH... Best medium of diplomacy, EVER, EVER. Rocket launcher time.

 

[e033x]

"Sue them... WITH GUNS!"

Sorry, just had to get that out.

I sincerely hope Bethesda accepts...

 

[subtlefuge]

Also, unless Mojang can choose champions to fight, it would be a massacre.

I assume that nobody's attached to what would be a laughable working title anyway. For a game concept that isn't the most compelling, he should have a title that begs a bit more attention.

 

[C117]

Man, if all law suits could be settled like this, bureaucracy would be a lot more interesting!

Come on, Bethesda! Accept the challenge, and let this be a battle to remember!

 

[The3rdEye]

This happened in Undergrads. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVuPCAYH71Y
I love that show.

I'm surprised it took so long for someone to pick up on the similar circumstance.

As to the issue itself... I can't really say that I care either way. Yes, Bethesda are being touchy about their license, but then again if I were a AAA studio and my most recent releases included Brink and Hunted:TDF, I'd be holding onto the identity of my one headliner property pretty tightly too. That being said however, I also wouldn't be worrying about Mojang. They have a genius marketing system [footnote]Small bit of rage: They've had over 3 million people pay for the game "as is", working with a 12-24 poly cap, low res textures... all for a game that just entered beta in early 2011. If the coding is such a pain in the ass for that little maybe your coding choice wasn't so awesome afterall. It was released in 2009 FFS][/footnote] but that's about it when compared to Bethesda.

 

[Hugga_Bear]

Hahaha oh this is sharp stuff. Blatant publicity by Notch but a damned good laugh nonetheless. I imagine the actual devs and such would probably be up for it (on the BethSoft side) but I highly doubt the bosses would allow it...

Still, whatever happens Notch has just gained more publicity and probably gone up in the esteem of a lot of gamers, between this and the Penny Arcade strip a relatively unknown game is now well recognised. I wonder how BethSoft feel about that, maybe they should have left well enough alone with this one.

 

[brodie21]

wouldnt it be funny if bethesda was just trolling? if in a month or so they drop the lawsuit and say 'you are welcome for the publicity' because honestly, i hadnt even heard of this scrolls game before the lawsuit

Trolling usually doesn't incur massive costs.

lulzsec? maybe?

 

[FoolKiller]

option 1. play and lose -> they possibly lose business from the name being used

I really doubt that they would. No-one refers to the elder scrolls games as 'scrolls.' This lawsuit is just kinda exploitative, they don't really think that people are going to mistake one game for the other.

I agree. In fact, people usually only refer to them as Morrowind or Oblivion and now Skyrim. They don't go around saying Elder Scrolls.

I hope Notch wins. I don't get how people argue copyright on a word. There was a game called The Wizard's Scrolls back in 1984. Maybe they should sue Bethesda.

Personally, I think that Notch should concede and name his game Ancient Parchments.

 

[qeinar]

Would be awesome if they accepted. brilliant idea by notch. I hope they stream it if they decide to do it, heck even get quake commentators to commentate the match.

 

[Pyroguekenesis]

Thus began the epic tale of Notch vs. Bethesda!
Awesome, what a perfecr way to decide a lawsuit with gamers by games! xD

 

[GraveeKing]

I think notch was wise doing something like this, this way if Bethesda except, both sides will gain a huge amount of attention and hence probably quite a bit of money to go with it, everyone wins.
If they turn it down I can really see some of notches more idiotic hardcore fans take it an an insult and maybe start boycotting Skyrim. I've no idea if they'll go for it or not, but the way I see it - they get a nice boost to their respect and how many people know about them, don't have to waste money on the lawsuit and prosecuting.

Personally I hope they go for it, I'd love to see this on YouTube. It would be epic.

 

[tombman888]

Dear god i can't wait to see what happenes

 

[Lightslei]

So Notch tweeted that Bethseda declined somewhere in that giant mess of his tweets. :/. I couldn't find it, but that's what I was told.

 

[CatsAttackAgain]

If only everyone acted like notch.

 

[Insomniaku]

Although we all know Bethesda don't believe in fun enough to do this sort of thing. I love what these guys are doing here, settling a conflict within gaming with games! I feel like their devs are real gamers and that's who should be making our games in the first place, I feel like it was mentioned in an Extra Credits 'sode but its true, our games should be made by people who play games and grew up with them and want to have fun with them, AAAAANNYWAYS that's a little of topic but the whole issue with Bethesda calling on the lawsuit was VERY silly and looks very bad for them, not to sound spiteful (it won't happpen anyways) but I hope it hurts Skyrim sales

 

[blankedboy]

Well that's the first cool thing Notch has done. If only he was always like this.