Bethesda, Mojang & 'Scrolls'

Bethesda, Mojang & "Scrolls"

By Sacheverell Aug 5, 2011
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It would appear that Bethesda - developer of numerous popular titles, including the "Elder Scrolls" series of games - is suing Mojang for use of the word "Scrolls" in one of their upcoming projects.

UPDATE NOTE

There seems to be some (understandable) confusion in regards to where the lawsuit is coming from. To clarify, "Bethesda Softworks" (publisher and developer of game titles) and "Bethesda Game Studios" (Creators of games like Oblivion, Skyrim etc.) are not the same entity. BGS is an in-house game-making team led by Todd Howard which is one part of Bethesda Softworks, and has no direct connection to the lawsuit in progress by Bethesda Softworks. Unless further specified by the acronym "BGS", any references to Bethesda in the following article assume "Bethesda Softworks". Sorry about the confusion!

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Mojang has been in development of another project (which we went over in our last installment), which bears the working name "Scrolls". Bethesda has expressed concern that players could mix up this new game with their own "Elder Scrolls" series, although the two seem to share no noticeable similarities beyond the word "scrolls".

Notch said that their office received a 15-page cease-and-desist letter, claiming that Mojang would be sued for rights to the word, along with formal requests for legal fees. He went on to say that they are attempting to establish talks with Bethesda regarding the word, to find an amicable solution for both parties. At the time of this writing, there was no available response from Bethesda.

We will continue to update this article as information becomes available.

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Piplup10
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#291 Piplup10

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Posted Aug 5, 2011
I love you bethesda, but stfu, you dont own the word because its in your title.

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DarkWolfInsanity
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#292 DarkWolfInsanity

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Posted Aug 5, 2011
Wouldnt be surprised if Bethesda is getting pounded with hate mail.

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DKside41
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#293 DKside41

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Posted Aug 5, 2011
That would be like Activision suing Ubisoft for using the word 'Call' in Call of Juarez for having the word that is in the name of Call of Duty. This is ridiculous. I highly doubt that Bathesda will win this if Mojang chooses to bring this to the court,

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Chazzbo
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#295 Chazzbo

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Posted Aug 5, 2011
I'm developing a game, its called

"Nuclear Fallout: The Ancient Scrolls, and the Raging Doom-Prey at the Brink of the Rim of the Sky - Los Vegas Edition"

I think it'll be a big success

Lol ~~Bethesda~~ ZeniMax needs a less stupid legal department. Seriously.

Last edited by Chazzbo: Aug 7, 2011

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Tycholarfero
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#297 Tycholarfero

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Posted Aug 5, 2011
You guys are really treating Bethesda as a small game company, are you?

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Tikipaka
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#299 Tikipaka

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Posted Aug 5, 2011
So many people here are going on mindless, meaningless rants because they don't understand what they want to be mad at.

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ShrickSon
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#300 ShrickSon

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Posted Aug 5, 2011
According to a good attorney friend of mine, in any country, you cannot sue anyone for using a word as a title unless the word has been created by that person and has a working copyright to it. Bethesda cannot sue.

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penguinsrulez
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#301 penguinsrulez

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Posted Aug 5, 2011
Thats an all time low for Bethesda

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stormc12
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#303 stormc12

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Posted Aug 5, 2011
I'm pretty sure the people who made Elders Scrolls just hate Minecraft and are trying to shut them down.

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R3DSH1FT_94
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#304 R3DSH1FT_94

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Posted Aug 5, 2011
Scrolls, Scrolls, Scrolls, Scrolls, and in closing, scrolls. Sue me

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PinePool
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Posted Aug 5, 2011
Thatsssssss some very nice sssssssssoftware you have there....
The Elder sssssssssssssscrolls....

(old joke)
(damn I'm going to get sued as well XD)

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wriggle_nightbug
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#306 wriggle_nightbug

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Posted Aug 5, 2011
This is really pretty silly. As someone said above, Nintendo owns the name Donkey Kong. I couldn't make another game and call it Donkey Kong. Hell, even calling it Kong might really be pushing it. But, if I made a game where you ride around on a donkey and called it Donkey then I don't think Nintendo could say much about it. A copyrighted name needs to be unique. It can't just be any generic word.

I don't think it's really a case that Bethesda can win but the thing is... they don't have to. As is often the case with copyright it's really not in the best interest of the accused to take it to court. It would be a big effort and would cost tons of money just to fight against a huge company that has money to burn. In the end Mojang will end up changing the name even though they're not, IMO, in the wrong. Basically, it's the big guy flexing his muscles and forcing the little guy to step in line.

The funny thing about all this is that it's only a WORKING TITLE for a game that's not even released yet. Like I sad before, the whole thing is pretty damn silly.

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Masoun
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Posted Aug 5, 2011
reminds me when Someone sued a restruant named Glory Days by my house in california, they were sued because someone already had a restruant named Glory Days in New York.

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Neverblade
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#308 Neverblade

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Posted Aug 5, 2011
WTF? We don't see Notch suing the developers of Fortresscraft, and that is by far a much greater copy than using the words SCROLLS in the title. Are the greater, mainstream companies so fearful of their position that they have to slam down on indie developers who have genuinely made something with ingenuity? This is just sad.

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lexxx18
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Posted Aug 5, 2011
well that's perfectly f-ing logical. You said "scrolls" now we can sue!
what really sucks is I was really looking forward to the new game from bethsoda and they pulled a stupid stunt like this...what a shame...

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MCDigItUp
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#310 MCDigItUp

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Posted Aug 5, 2011
Notch, I'm on your side 100% man! Bethesda can go kiss someone's ***!

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schmtar
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Posted Aug 5, 2011
that is bull everyone knows "elder scrolls" and really only oblivion is any good so far they don't own the word and this case wont stick there needs to be more than 10% similarity in the laws eyes im sorry but one word in the title is not any where near 10%

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clant
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#312 clant

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Posted Aug 5, 2011
It.. is sad really, I do believe they are being sued becuase someone may accidentally stumble upon the wrong game?

Let us review a situation where this might happen

"Hey you play that scrolls game that i forget the name of but am still recommending to you even though it made no obvious impact on me since i can't remember the name"

"no I haven't I will look it up on Google, oh I found it now, I will now play this game that is not in any way am open world rpg for the rest of my life disregarding anything else with scrolls in the name"

seriously only situation i could think of. Simply having scrolls in the title is a petty thing to argue over, though legal.

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imshanedulong
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#314 imshanedulong

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Posted Aug 5, 2011
That is the biggest peice of ******** I've ever heard. They are not the same name, and Notch has every right to call the game Scrolls. They're out for the money.

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Turchx
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#315 Turchx

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Posted Aug 5, 2011
I know this is really out of place, but I love hearing all the people who think Bethesda is a person XD

Also as notch has repeatedly stated these are Bethesda's LAWYERS speaking not Bethesda itself. Notch said he hopes he can contact Bethesda devs and talk it out as a misunderstanding...

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Bethesda, Mojang & "Scrolls"

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