Ugh, I was going to read through to see if anyone else had made the point I'm about to make, but then I didn't want to read page after page of "This is stupid. Bethesda is stupid."
Look, they HAVE to do this. The way copyright law is written, if they don't jump at every ridiculous lawsuit like this, they don't get to have a copyright anymore.
When I was growing up, there was this little hot dog stand not too far from where I lived called "Wee Dee's". Every so often, General Mills would come along and sue them for copyright infringement, to protect the trademark on Wheaties. Eventually, this was so amicable, and recognised as silly by both sides, that General Mills would actually foot the bill for the lawyer for Wee Dee's.
But every so often, the suit must occur. See, if they don't sue Mojang now, when someone comes along in a few years with, uh, I don't know, let's say a game called The Eldest Scrolls, then the company that made the CLEARLY derivative title can point to all the things with mildly similar titles that Bethesda allowed. No kidding.
So, as you can see, yes. This IS stupid. Bethesda? Totally not.
I dont think its Bethesda so much as their lawyers doing this. I dont have anything against lawyers, but they are good for making jokes about and blaming things on. Bethesda is awesome, less so because of this. Mojang is awesome, and Notch shouldve challenged the lawyers to a game of chess for his soul.
This actually kind of irritates me, since Bethesda IS one of my favorite developers in the business. Any person who has ever played an elder scrolls game will likely NOT confuse it with Mojang's "Scrolls" game. Reason being: We have more than half a brain, and many of us tend to use more than once a month. Bethesda is, in my opinion, showing a lack of faith in their own targeted audience, not trusting us to know the difference between something that they made, and something that someone else has made. Basically, they are calling us a bunch of idiots. Honestly, I don't think that Bethesda owns the rights to the world Scrolls. Are they going to sue any book that has that word in its title? Are they going to sue a TV show that might have scrolls in their title? I think not. Yet if another game is titled Scrolls, they will? Is it really even necessary? Meh.... rambling on now... >.>
I want to make a point that I don't think a lot of people know. Bethesda Softworks did not make elderscrolls or fallout, that was bethesda game studios. Bethesda Softworks is the business side of Bethesda, it's who publish games, like Brink, that wasn't made by Bethesda, it was just published by them. So Mojang may aswell be going up against a bank or something like that, just a big company that does business how it should be done. I love Bethesda a dont blame them for doing this, I think is a bit over the top, but if I made a game I dont want google searches to go to another site if they type a keyword from my game. I think both company's have valid arguments.
I'm not sure who I'm rooting for in this battle.
DanSparrow -"Big companies are simply full of idiots. Last time someone tried to copyright a common use word, it ended up losing a lot of money and even rights."
Copyrights are not taken by an active process, they are defaulted in for anything that is not already copyrighted or trademarked.
This issue had to do with a trademark filing. Personally, I find it stupid that someone could sue anyone else for attempting to trademark a word that wasn't trademarked on its own. If anything, they should only be able to call the trademark application into question so that it might get denied. Suing someone for asking the people who are in charge of the system that you're suing them over if they can do something with said system is, in my opinion, the most ridiculous part of all of this. If they can't use the trademark without infringing trademark law, then don't let them use it. End of story. Don't sue because someone asked... That's like saying John asked Mike if he could borrow $50, and Mike responding by going to the police and reporting that John had attempted to mug him (more or less).
Those of you nerd raging about this are really stupid if you think the makers of the actual elder scrolls games are responsible for this. Bethesda Softworks is responsible for the suit, not Bethesda game studios, grow up and learn politics.
Ugh, I was going to read through to see if anyone else had made the point I'm about to make, but then I didn't want to read page after page of "This is stupid. Bethesda is stupid."
Look, they HAVE to do this. The way copyright law is written, if they don't jump at every ridiculous lawsuit like this, they don't get to have a copyright anymore.
When I was growing up, there was this little hot dog stand not too far from where I lived called "Wee Dee's". Every so often, General Mills would come along and sue them for copyright infringement, to protect the trademark on Wheaties. Eventually, this was so amicable, and recognised as silly by both sides, that General Mills would actually foot the bill for the lawyer for Wee Dee's.
But every so often, the suit must occur. See, if they don't sue Mojang now, when someone comes along in a few years with, uh, I don't know, let's say a game called The Eldest Scrolls, then the company that made the CLEARLY derivative title can point to all the things with mildly similar titles that Bethesda allowed. No kidding.
So, as you can see, yes. This IS stupid. Bethesda? Totally not.
I was gonna be angry at Bethsoft for being Lucas-like douches until I read this. Chances are, the people who made Morrowind (the newer games are good, but pale in comparison :tongue.gif:) are not the sue-happy executives we are imagining. Hopefully the whole thing blows over with a minimum of melodrama.
it just makes bethesda look like money grubbing a-holes.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Yes, right. You're one of...those, Never understood why any self respecting Decepticon would choose automobile as his vehical mode when he could have flight." -Starscream
I wounder if there gona sue google after this for letting people use the word scrolls in their search bar...
anyways, this is just stupid, its the word scrolls, 1 WORD not like say elder scrolls or elderly scrolls or anything like that. its just scrolls. good luck bermuda, ur gona need it to get back all the money ur gona loose.
and to notch, try to to make winning look so easy infront of them
You have to realize, how many games use the word "Scrolls" in the title? I only know of the elder scrolls games. Not to mention the fact that it may be just one word, but it is one word in a two word title. So considering by using the word "Scrolls" they are using 50% of the copyright name for the full title of their game, then it is more then understandable.
Wow Bethesda, I used to LOVE your Fallout series that you created/worked on, but come on, out of all the games that use the word "Scrolls", you choose this one?
P.S. Yes, I am new here. Please don't diss me, otherwise...... I keel You! (Achmed for the win :P!)
Check out my epic Request!
Look, they HAVE to do this. The way copyright law is written, if they don't jump at every ridiculous lawsuit like this, they don't get to have a copyright anymore.
When I was growing up, there was this little hot dog stand not too far from where I lived called "Wee Dee's". Every so often, General Mills would come along and sue them for copyright infringement, to protect the trademark on Wheaties. Eventually, this was so amicable, and recognised as silly by both sides, that General Mills would actually foot the bill for the lawyer for Wee Dee's.
But every so often, the suit must occur. See, if they don't sue Mojang now, when someone comes along in a few years with, uh, I don't know, let's say a game called The Eldest Scrolls, then the company that made the CLEARLY derivative title can point to all the things with mildly similar titles that Bethesda allowed. No kidding.
So, as you can see, yes. This IS stupid. Bethesda? Totally not.
I'm not sure who I'm rooting for in this battle.
Copyrights are not taken by an active process, they are defaulted in for anything that is not already copyrighted or trademarked.
This issue had to do with a trademark filing. Personally, I find it stupid that someone could sue anyone else for attempting to trademark a word that wasn't trademarked on its own. If anything, they should only be able to call the trademark application into question so that it might get denied. Suing someone for asking the people who are in charge of the system that you're suing them over if they can do something with said system is, in my opinion, the most ridiculous part of all of this. If they can't use the trademark without infringing trademark law, then don't let them use it. End of story. Don't sue because someone asked... That's like saying John asked Mike if he could borrow $50, and Mike responding by going to the police and reporting that John had attempted to mug him (more or less).
I was gonna be angry at Bethsoft for being Lucas-like douches until I read this. Chances are, the people who made Morrowind (the newer games are good, but pale in comparison :tongue.gif:) are not the sue-happy executives we are imagining. Hopefully the whole thing blows over with a minimum of melodrama.
Bethesda Softworks =/= Bethesda Studios
Disruptively Insubordinate, Fails to Attend to Duty
anyways, this is just stupid, its the word scrolls, 1 WORD not like say elder scrolls or elderly scrolls or anything like that. its just scrolls. good luck bermuda, ur gona need it to get back all the money ur gona loose.
and to notch, try to to make winning look so easy infront of them
Smart move, Bethesda