it is truly unfortunate that these lawsuits even happen, but they do, and, they happen a whole lot more then most people would realize.
The second you become 'big' enough, you will be a target by those who feel threatened, or even high-and-mighty asses who would rather be at the top all the time even if it means being a bully.
Congragulations you won Mojang, really nice request for contest within Quake 3, would've liked to see that far more then Bethesda wasting their ever important money on Lawyers rather then their programmers, artists and Game Designers, for a much better quality game release of Skyrim or other games (which regardless of this PR food fight ill still get, as i am a loyal fan to "good Quality" games, and the ES series)
Its just like the stupid Viacom vs. Google Lawsuit...its ALL about PR, bullying the little guy, and seeing how much they'll take before they just give up....
Its a stupid lawsuit, but the point like this, is about publicity...even though Mojang won...and hold the name..Bethesda pretty much won saying "You name a game with 'Elder', 'Scrolls'(lol losers), 'Fallout', etc... well come after you." (assuming they get big) (that isn't the whole point of a lawsuit but pretty much sums up this one)
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Check out my Suggestions Thread
World Seed: 3357710876112529152 An awesome natural world seed that took me a while to make it like this..
Okay, I give up. When you're all surprised next month when the lawsuit is still going on and the forum is filled with posts of "I thought Mojang won a month ago?!" I'm gonna drink heavily.
1. The case isn't over, its just injunction
2. People think Zenimax are "evil" because they tried to sue Notch over the word "Scrolls". Many of you think they are stupid for trying to own the word "Scrolls". What many of you don't understand is that Notch requested a TRADEMARK for "Scrolls", as in HE would own the word "Scrolls" in pretty much any form of media (he requested it for stuff like TV shows??). If Notch was successful in getting this trademark, he would be able to sue Zenimax for their use of "Scrolls" in "The Elder Scrolls" in any of their future releases. Therefore, it is really Notch who is the "evil" one, Zenimax are only defending their trademark.
Believe me, I support both companies, I'm just quite annoyed at all the Zenimax hate around here.
To all who are convinced that Zenimax or Bethesda are "evil", I really don't think that's entirely fair. I do agree that Bethesda may have been a bit bullying in their tactics, but they have a valid concern as well:
If Mojang received the copright and trademark on the word "Scrolls", then it would give them exclusive right to the use of the single word as a primary title itself. Bethesda uses "The Elder Scrolls", which is their primary title. If the trademark was awarded to Mojang, then it would be possible that Bethesda would face a legal problem in the future because their primary title contains the trademarked word, but they, themselves do not own the trademark for it. I think Zenimax was perempting the possibility of that situation, which may have meant a court-case in the future anyway, or as a worst-case scenario, Bethesda losing future rights to market their games under "The Elder Scrolls".
Where I think Bethesda and Zenimax were bullying is when Notch offered to withdraw his application for the trademark, and they decided to push the situation to trial anyway. That smacks of both a bit of hegaemony on Bethesda's part and lawyers trying to get a bigger paycheck, but it's also possible that Bethesda wants to secure the use of the word Scrolls so that they do not have to start labeling their games "TES V: Skyrim" or come up with a new primary title.
In the end, I think the courts will either decide that you cannot trademark a single, non-coined word for use as a title, or that the use of the word scrolls does not infringe on Bethesda's trademark in any way.
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"To be. NO!--not to be! What was the question?" -Shakespeare for Teenagers
the original debate started because mojang wanted scrolls to be a trademark, and if bethesda wouldnt react, mojang could sue bethesda for having "scrolls" in their "elder scrolls" franachise. of course no one of you would have thought that fluffy notch could so that, but why applying a scrolls trademark for pretty much the whole range of media?
Because Mojang applied for THE EXACT SAME WIDE-SPANNING TRADEMARK FOR MINECRAFT. This was a blanket move Mojang did with all its current IPs so they would never have to use a middleman in the event of any franchise becoming lucrative enough to spill out into other forms of media. Scrolls is the only one that raised flags with Zenimax.
Have any of you even looked into what the entire lawsuit was about, or are you all just going by the VERY little information that Notch provided you on his blog? I'm not saying Mojang and Notch were wrong, but Notch's passive-aggressive attitude was childish at best. I thought his Quake challenge was a joke, but everyone keeps bringing it up like he was serious... That's not how the real world works, people.
At first, Notch was actually trying to OWN the word Scrolls, so if their original trademark would have been granted, they could have sued Zenimax for making an Elder Scrolls game. I haven't kept up with the lawsuit too much (but at least I'm not pretending like I know everything about it either), but I don't think that trademark was granted. At least I hope not...
I'm glad Mojang gets to use "Scrolls" as the title, but this whole situation actually hurt Notch a lot more than Zenimax in my opinion. I highly doubt Zenimax made the lawsuit for no other purpose than to attack Mojang. I've also seen other people mention that if they didn't sue Mojang, then they'd be setting a precedent and leaving themselves open for attacks from other companies as well. Unless you are all law majors and know exactly how this lawsuit worked, then you should probably calm down and stop being so ignorant about the whole situation.
I think Notch has to realize that he's actually running a business now, and he's not a "small" indie developer anymore. People watch what he says and does now, and he needs to start acting a little more mature...
Notch said on his Twitter that he was still going to get Skyrim. also it was stupid what they were arguing over. I have very few times heard of The Elder Scrolls series being called the Scrolls series.
Oh my... the comments on this article have truly shaken my faith in the overall intelligence of humanity.
I can understand people not fully grasping all the legal issues going on here, as that's not everyone's particular area of interest. However, there is ABSOLUTELY NO EXCUSE for ignoring all the nicely written explanations of what was going on in simple English. What, do people read something remotely interesting and then go into a comment rage, assuming that their idea is SO IMPORTANT AND ORIGINAL that NO ONE ELSE could have ever, ever thought of posting that very same thing? Or that someone MIGHT know slightly more than they do?
Rule for life- When speaking, always assume people are smarter than you. When doing, always assume people are dumber. If you're right, you were prepared. If you're wrong, you'll never be surprised.
I'm putting this in big red text so people will actually see it and pay attention.
Mojang did not 'win'. The lawsuit has not actually happened yet. What happened is the court said 'you're not hurting anyone, because the game isn't out yet, so go ahead and keep using the name until we make a final decision'.
I'm putting this in big red text so people will actually see it and pay attention.
Mojang did not 'win'. The lawsuit has not actually happened yet. What happened is the court said 'you're not hurting anyone, because the game isn't out yet, so go ahead and keep using the name until we make a final decision'.
Also, ZeniMax, not Bethesda.
I'm fairly certain you could punch some of these people in the face with brass knuckles spelling out MOJANG DIDN'T WIN YET (holy **** you have a ton of fingers!), turn their monitor into a mirror, and put a bright flashing light behind it, and we would STILL see "OMG MOJANG TEH WINNERZ FUK BETHEZDA gready basturds"
The second you become 'big' enough, you will be a target by those who feel threatened, or even high-and-mighty asses who would rather be at the top all the time even if it means being a bully.
Congragulations you won Mojang, really nice request for contest within Quake 3, would've liked to see that far more then Bethesda wasting their ever important money on Lawyers rather then their programmers, artists and Game Designers, for a much better quality game release of Skyrim or other games (which regardless of this PR food fight ill still get, as i am a loyal fan to "good Quality" games, and the ES series)
Its just like the stupid Viacom vs. Google Lawsuit...its ALL about PR, bullying the little guy, and seeing how much they'll take before they just give up....
Its a stupid lawsuit, but the point like this, is about publicity...even though Mojang won...and hold the name..Bethesda pretty much won saying "You name a game with 'Elder', 'Scrolls'(lol losers), 'Fallout', etc... well come after you." (assuming they get big) (that isn't the whole point of a lawsuit but pretty much sums up this one)
World Seed: 3357710876112529152 An awesome natural world seed that took me a while to make it like this..
Then we'll start going after the other sensory organs.
Thank goodness you didn't have to change the title.
I tried.
2. People think Zenimax are "evil" because they tried to sue Notch over the word "Scrolls". Many of you think they are stupid for trying to own the word "Scrolls". What many of you don't understand is that Notch requested a TRADEMARK for "Scrolls", as in HE would own the word "Scrolls" in pretty much any form of media (he requested it for stuff like TV shows??). If Notch was successful in getting this trademark, he would be able to sue Zenimax for their use of "Scrolls" in "The Elder Scrolls" in any of their future releases. Therefore, it is really Notch who is the "evil" one, Zenimax are only defending their trademark.
Believe me, I support both companies, I'm just quite annoyed at all the Zenimax hate around here.
If Mojang received the copright and trademark on the word "Scrolls", then it would give them exclusive right to the use of the single word as a primary title itself. Bethesda uses "The Elder Scrolls", which is their primary title. If the trademark was awarded to Mojang, then it would be possible that Bethesda would face a legal problem in the future because their primary title contains the trademarked word, but they, themselves do not own the trademark for it. I think Zenimax was perempting the possibility of that situation, which may have meant a court-case in the future anyway, or as a worst-case scenario, Bethesda losing future rights to market their games under "The Elder Scrolls".
Where I think Bethesda and Zenimax were bullying is when Notch offered to withdraw his application for the trademark, and they decided to push the situation to trial anyway. That smacks of both a bit of hegaemony on Bethesda's part and lawyers trying to get a bigger paycheck, but it's also possible that Bethesda wants to secure the use of the word Scrolls so that they do not have to start labeling their games "TES V: Skyrim" or come up with a new primary title.
In the end, I think the courts will either decide that you cannot trademark a single, non-coined word for use as a title, or that the use of the word scrolls does not infringe on Bethesda's trademark in any way.
-Shakespeare for Teenagers
Because Mojang applied for THE EXACT SAME WIDE-SPANNING TRADEMARK FOR MINECRAFT. This was a blanket move Mojang did with all its current IPs so they would never have to use a middleman in the event of any franchise becoming lucrative enough to spill out into other forms of media. Scrolls is the only one that raised flags with Zenimax.
At first, Notch was actually trying to OWN the word Scrolls, so if their original trademark would have been granted, they could have sued Zenimax for making an Elder Scrolls game. I haven't kept up with the lawsuit too much (but at least I'm not pretending like I know everything about it either), but I don't think that trademark was granted. At least I hope not...
I'm glad Mojang gets to use "Scrolls" as the title, but this whole situation actually hurt Notch a lot more than Zenimax in my opinion. I highly doubt Zenimax made the lawsuit for no other purpose than to attack Mojang. I've also seen other people mention that if they didn't sue Mojang, then they'd be setting a precedent and leaving themselves open for attacks from other companies as well. Unless you are all law majors and know exactly how this lawsuit worked, then you should probably calm down and stop being so ignorant about the whole situation.
I think Notch has to realize that he's actually running a business now, and he's not a "small" indie developer anymore. People watch what he says and does now, and he needs to start acting a little more mature...
I can understand people not fully grasping all the legal issues going on here, as that's not everyone's particular area of interest. However, there is ABSOLUTELY NO EXCUSE for ignoring all the nicely written explanations of what was going on in simple English. What, do people read something remotely interesting and then go into a comment rage, assuming that their idea is SO IMPORTANT AND ORIGINAL that NO ONE ELSE could have ever, ever thought of posting that very same thing? Or that someone MIGHT know slightly more than they do?
Rule for life- When speaking, always assume people are smarter than you. When doing, always assume people are dumber. If you're right, you were prepared. If you're wrong, you'll never be surprised.
Mojang did not 'win'. The lawsuit has not actually happened yet. What happened is the court said 'you're not hurting anyone, because the game isn't out yet, so go ahead and keep using the name until we make a final decision'.
Also, ZeniMax, not Bethesda.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxqQT3UvXkM
I'm fairly certain you could punch some of these people in the face with brass knuckles spelling out MOJANG DIDN'T WIN YET (holy **** you have a ton of fingers!), turn their monitor into a mirror, and put a bright flashing light behind it, and we would STILL see "OMG MOJANG TEH WINNERZ FUK BETHEZDA gready basturds"
WHY CAN'T THEY JUST GET ALONG!!!