'Scrolls' Lawsuit Goes To Court

"Scrolls" Lawsuit Goes To Court

By Sacheverell Sep 27, 2011
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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.

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4Players1
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#2 4Players1

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Posted Sep 27, 2011
Mojang would have loosed anyways, Bethesda is better at playing Quake

Last edited by 4Players1: Sep 27, 2011

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Rhyam
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Posted Sep 27, 2011
Hm..lost* and no. I don't think so.

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MantleMan
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#7 MantleMan

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Posted Sep 27, 2011
but you have to type "ELDER" scrolls to find thier games,and regular people just type skyrim anyway

Last edited by MantleMan: Sep 27, 2011

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Evolution_Zero
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Posted Sep 27, 2011
They fear the popularity of a mojang developed game with a name similar because it may redirect some potential customers.

If anything mojang is getting some free advertising.

Come-on Bethesda, you make great games, don't make an ass out of yourself.

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DanSparrow
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#10 DanSparrow

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Posted Sep 27, 2011
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.

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Twitch1
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#11 Twitch1

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Posted Sep 27, 2011
This is what happens from time to time in the gaming community. Granted, those of us who play or even look for information regarding The Elder Scrolls III, IV, or V search by the terms Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, not scrolls... This is a ridiculous suit, but that is why lawyers go to hell jokes are so prominent...

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Sheepslayer64
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#15 Sheepslayer64

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Posted Sep 27, 2011
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.

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caderi
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Posted Sep 27, 2011
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.

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AnomieDog
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#19 AnomieDog

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Posted Sep 27, 2011
WTH Bethesda? Way to stick it to the little guy. Hope you enjoy your bad PR.

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Firechicken
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Posted Sep 27, 2011
*sigh*
Cause rolled up parchment wouldn't work...

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DeathwingII
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Posted Sep 27, 2011
Wow. This is going to feel so good when Mojang wins and Bethesda lose a few customers.

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BakaKoneko
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Posted Sep 27, 2011
I really hope Bethesda wins.
I hate the little guy.

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greenFlame44
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#24 greenFlame44

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Posted Sep 27, 2011
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

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Faceless
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#25 Faceless

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Posted Sep 27, 2011
If Mojang wins, everyone will celebrate.

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.

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lucasowner
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#26 lucasowner

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Posted Sep 27, 2011
street fighter IV narrator: IT IS THE BATTLE OF THE CENTURY! FIGHT!

well i hope that mojang wins,but Bethesda IS SO BIG!

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42and19
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#28 42and19

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Posted Sep 27, 2011
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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hoosiercub
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#30 hoosiercub

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Posted Sep 27, 2011
Quote from Dr.Whoosh

Bethesda will most likely win.

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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RuinTheSlayer
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#33 RuinTheSlayer

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Posted Sep 27, 2011
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.

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bigmike84
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#35 bigmike84

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Posted Sep 27, 2011
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

Last edited by bigmike84: Sep 27, 2011

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matthew9170
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#37 matthew9170

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Posted Sep 27, 2011
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.

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