Notch has confirmed that the lawsuit between Mojang - developer of Minecraft and Scrolls - will be going to court with Bethesda, regarding the name of their Scrolls title. Up until recently, the idea of a court battle was just that - an idea. Now, with the official proceedings getting underway, the case is officially out of the "maybe" stage.
The original debate started when developer Mojang decided to make the working title of their new CCG-like game "Scrolls", which prompted software publisher Bethesda Softworks to respond, citing potential confusion between Mojang's Scrolls and their own Elder Scrolls franchise.
Some time into the proceedings, Notch offered to settle the dispute with a friendly game of Quake 3, a challenge which was not answered. The proposed solution was intended to ease any potential PR incidents, and provide an amicable solution to the dispute. The challenge went unanswered, and legal proceedings continued unabated.
I didn't even know about the "Elder Scrolls" part of the title until I had been playing the games for a long time. The fact that this case is actually going to court is hilarious because of that, but either way it won't be in court for long unless Bethesda wants to put Mojang out of business.
bethesda will probribly lose due to the fact that its a "single" word,i just dont see bethesda winning. i dont even refer to any of there games as scrolls the eldar saga or anything i just use the words skyrim oblivion etc.
i guess it also depends alot on the judge to,but we,ll see who wins soon enough.
omg wth bethusida is a ****ing idiot seriously there acting like theyre 5 some songs have very simalar names but no one complains how do u mix up scrolls with elder scrolls seriously grow up bethusida let mojang take a chance at the top for once
Personally, I don't think either company has any real case, Bethesada has no case because the titles are sufficiently different (and nobody refers to the product as The Elder Scrolls anyway, but that won't be considered by the courts) and Mojang doesn't have a case because it tried to trademark a single-word which doesn't make much sense. I hope they bring up the case of Edge sueing Mirror's Edge for having the word Edge in the title and how he was laughed out of court.
Registering a trademark does not only come with powers, it comes with liabilities also. The matter of the law is that, if Bethesda willingly ignore when their trademark appears to be violated, they can lose their trademark protection. You are required by law to enforce your registered trademarks or you weaken them and eventually lose them. Bethesda has no choice but file the lawsuit or they are in danger to lose the protection for their whole Elder Scrolls franchise.
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"Look, I don't care if your 8 or 20. If you can't take criticism or opinions, then get off the internet." -Stronghold257
Usually on logo infractions an audience get shown a lot of logos and pick up those that are similar without being told which is the one on trial. Frankly with a blink of an eye there is similarity between the logos.
In case they bring it to a franchise infraction same thing applies, of first sight setting of both games is medieval-ish, might given the inattentive customer to think to find aspect of the elder scrolls series.
Bethesda cannot risk possible confusion and needs to keep their chances for a possible spin-off called scrolls made by their hands (considering they have the rights on that name they could do so).
All in all Bethesda doesn't sues for pure pleasure but merely to protect their own franchises like any healthy cooperation would do.
Bethesda will most likely NOT win.. such a vague usage of word cannot be copyrighted. Very similar to when Apple was very upset that 'App Store' could not be copyrighted, then they got upset about Getjar having an App Store as well.. funny since Getjar predates the Apple App Store.
Bethesda's lawyers have a snowball's chance in hell at winning this. They're suing over something too vague for a legitimate lawsuit.
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What do cave noises mean?
Nothing. They're just there to scare the **** out of you.
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If this is a hut, I would hate to see what a house is.
God this lawsuit is a waste of time. No one calls any of the elder scrolls games "scrolls" they call it by the subtitle which is in huge lettering with "The Elder Scrolls" in small unnoticeable lettering.
Notch, next time try copyrighting a word more useful word like..."The". So then you can sue any game dev that makes a game with the word "The" in it, in turn making BILLIONS! MUAHAHAHAHAHA!
Nah...Notch is probably gonna have to end up changing scrolls to something like..."paper" or.."leaflet"...or how about "BETH sucked my big left toe"!
EDIT:I just googled "scrolls" and on the first page, there's more about Majong and scrolls, then there is about Bethesda and elder scrolls, that's really saying something imo
In all honest opinion Bethesda will not win this lawsuit, due to the fact that you can not trademark a word that is used in everyday speech. And if I may also add, Bethesda is just making a fool of themselves by tiring to make money from a small company.
The original debate started when developer Mojang decided to make the working title of their new CCG-like game "Scrolls", which prompted software publisher Bethesda Softworks to respond, citing potential confusion between Mojang's Scrolls and their own Elder Scrolls franchise.
Some time into the proceedings, Notch offered to settle the dispute with a friendly game of Quake 3, a challenge which was not answered. The proposed solution was intended to ease any potential PR incidents, and provide an amicable solution to the dispute. The challenge went unanswered, and legal proceedings continued unabated.
@paganmother Just doing my own thing.
If anything mojang is getting some free advertising.
Come-on Bethesda, you make great games, don't make an ass out of yourself.
http://www.xenonservers.com/clients/aff.php?aff=885
i guess it also depends alot on the judge to,but we,ll see who wins soon enough.
Cause rolled up parchment wouldn't work...
I hate the little guy.
If Bethesada wins, everyone will cry corruption!
Personally, I don't think either company has any real case, Bethesada has no case because the titles are sufficiently different (and nobody refers to the product as The Elder Scrolls anyway, but that won't be considered by the courts) and Mojang doesn't have a case because it tried to trademark a single-word which doesn't make much sense. I hope they bring up the case of Edge sueing Mirror's Edge for having the word Edge in the title and how he was laughed out of court.
well i hope that mojang wins,but Bethesda IS SO BIG!
Bethesda will most likely NOT win.. such a vague usage of word cannot be copyrighted. Very similar to when Apple was very upset that 'App Store' could not be copyrighted, then they got upset about Getjar having an App Store as well.. funny since Getjar predates the Apple App Store.
Bethesda's lawyers have a snowball's chance in hell at winning this. They're suing over something too vague for a legitimate lawsuit.
Nothing. They're just there to scare the **** out of you.
Nah...Notch is probably gonna have to end up changing scrolls to something like..."paper" or.."leaflet"...or how about "BETH sucked my big left toe"!
EDIT:I just googled "scrolls" and on the first page, there's more about Majong and scrolls, then there is about Bethesda and elder scrolls, that's really saying something imo
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