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.
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.
If I says Scrolls in one of my games, I get sued.
...
...
...****ing idiots
do the math notch is filthy rich theyre jealous
But seriously, Bethesda is going to come out of this with nothing but bad PR, all thanks to their legal department.
Bethesda is and always will be better at making games in there genre than Mojang is at making games in there genre."
Really? You joined The MINECRAFT FORUMS, to rant about how bad Minecraft is? Do you even have a life? Do you really think your not a troll? And Two, Minecraft made it's genre. Lastly, This is a **** move no matter what.
The sandbox genre?
There is a quote button.
and this as far as single word copyright " In the United States, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 37 Section 202.1a prohibits copyright of a single word, title or small group of words or phrases, regardless of originality.[34] In some circumstances these may be covered by trademarks. "
AH **** I SAID SCROLLS.
BETHESDA SERIOUSLY DON'T SUE ME. IM SORRY I USED THE WORD "scrolls"
AW **** I DID IT AGAIN.
I want to see a paper that says that Bethesda owns the legal rights to the word Scrolls.
First of all people thing that Fortress craft should be sued. Not only does it share "craft" but it takes place in blocks. But guess what, mojang would fail, that's enough evidence. They could only sue if they found some kind of evidence that they stole the code for minecraft.
In this case, Mojang used the word Scrolls.
Not only is it in a different atmosphere and play sense, its also a CCG.
How the **** are they going to pass that lawsuit?
I have personally decided to not buy Skyrim and support others in their decision to Pirate the game. Honestly Bethesda deserves to lose the revenue when they allow their legal department to make such a rash and boneheaded decision. And to the dude who said that Bethesda had nothing to do with this a few posts up, sadly you're wrong. The legal team responsible for this REPRESENTS Bethesda Softworks and any and all actions they take reflect completely upon Bethesda Softworks, and thusly could not have made the decision to go ahead with this without consultation with the higher authorities within Bethesda Softworks.
Now, considering how legal battles like this usually go, and with the information we have available, I don't see this going too far. At the absolute worst the name of the title will be changed. Bethesda doesn't have much of a case. The two games are nothing alike. There is likely to be some further communication between Mojang and Bethesda. They're trying to come up with a solution that will avoid unnecessary legal issues. If Bethesda is smart they'll go with a compromise. If they ignore Mojang, then they'll just end up looking like a bully that's trying to keep an up and coming developer off the market, which will bring them some very negative press.
TL:DR - Bethesda is cool, but making a hasty and bad decision. There's a good chance Mojang will make it out unscathed if both parties work hard at a compromise. Let's hope they're not trying to Bully Mojang off the market.
Oh, and to the trolls coming on here just to bash Minecraft, go back to 4chan. Your kind are not welcome here.
Wow, if you dont like minecraft, get off these forums. A admin should just ban the trolls that are just coming on to bash minecraft. Its called MINECRAFTforums.net for a reason. You sir are Fail.