Long ago - before the dawn of history - we saw the beginnings of a lawsuit from Bethesda Softworks/Zenimax over the rights to use the word "scrolls" as a title for a new game Mojang was developing. Time went on, and it eventually ended up in court, with indie underdog Mojang refusing to relinquish their use of the new title. Now, it seems that the lawsuit has come to a close, with Mojang the victor. The final verdict? As told by Mojang CEO Carl Manneh, they will be allowed to use the name "Scrolls" for their new game title, but will not maintain control over the trademark of said word. This marks the end of a long road between the software publishing giant and indie game studio, and all things considered, there was minimal conflict. Carl added, "it was never about the trademark, but being able to use 'Scrolls' as the name of our game, which we can".
One could say that the lawsuit took an arrow to the knee.
Bethesda Softworks/Zenimax originally wanted Mojang to stop using the word "scrolls" for their new game for fear of confusing it with their "Elder Scrolls" franchise. Scrolls is a CCG-like game which "offers a new and unique game play where you fight to outmaneuver your opponent on the battlefield using the destructive powers in your collection of magical scrolls". You can sign up for the Scrolls Alpha by going here and providing your email.
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Community Spotlight - Savage Realms
This week, we take a look at the incredibly diverse SMP server "Savage Realms" - definitely a server worth visiting if you want an endless bounty of activities combined with a solid, tightly-knit community. Check it out! Special thanks to cr0ssVtW, acidsinn, hungoverfurball and Mayhem for giving me the grand tour! My only regret was that there was so very much to see, it was a constant battle to figure out what would make it into the video. If you head over to their server, be sure to check out their "Underworld" region - it really is something else!
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XBLA Minecraft Sneak Peek - Split-Screen!
During the recent Game Developer's Conference, we had a chance to check out the upcoming XBLA Minecraft, now with split-screen action. Take a look!
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Posted Mar 11, 2012GET IT RIGHT
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Posted Mar 11, 2012I hope you realize, even if they did lose money, it wouldn't matter much. Bethesda has I'm sure millions.
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Posted Mar 11, 2012o_O eh? the lawsuit was beyond stupid, beth doesn't own the word to begin with. besisdes if they care about elder scrolls this much why was skyrim released in the crappy state it was in, for the ps3 only a few played it on the ps3 without problems, i was one of the many that didn't, and they knew and didn't give two shits what we as buyers would have to deal with. when a game costs 60$ i expect it to be somewhat decent in quality. and from a big company like beth i expected better then that.
bottom line they don't give a crap about the game or the gamers, they just are greedy. and if mohjang wants to use the word they have every right to do so. no one owns a single word, even a person's name is not theirs by ownership. if they were going to copy most or a good bit of the game i can see where this would have been remotely needed, but i didn't then and still don't now.
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Posted Mar 12, 2012hahahahahaha
I must say that it's the legal tem at Bethesda who has no heart.. Don't forget that the developers put the Notched Pickaxe into Skyrim as an easter egg nod to Notch!
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Posted Mar 12, 2012But it could be more different! MINECRAFT NEEDS GUNS!
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Posted Mar 12, 2012No, this isn't quite right. Bethesda was claiming that the trademark "Scrolls" being used by Mojang is something that diminishes the value of their own trademark and thus needed to be defended. With trademarks, you either defend them or they become "generic" and lose trademark status. "Windows" is a generic term, but as applied to computer operating systems is a trademark that has value.
Still, the ultimate result of this lawsuit is that the term "Scrolls" as applied to computer games has become a generic term and can be claimed by anybody as a name to describe some sort of genera of computer games. While Mojang can use the term "Mojang's Scrolls" and the fancy design to artistically render the word "Scrolls" can be trademarked, the term itself can't be used by itself as a trademark. That has some profound implications for others so far as potentially competing products, and that Mojang can't demand licensing revenue from that term, but it does mean that Mojang and anybody else for that matter can use the term freely in regards to computer software.
Not quite what Mojang was hoping for, but it isn't a bad thing either. "Scrolls Wiki", "ScrollsMod", and other ways to use that generic term can't be restricted by Mojang either.
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Posted Mar 12, 2012and yet at the bottom of scrolls.com page:
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Posted Mar 12, 2012It takes both time to update a webpage, as well as time for lawyers to figure out what to do next in terms of legal advise as a result of a lawsuit like this. Unless there is a formal court order where Notch could land in prison if the website doesn't get updated (for which there isn't such a court or judicial order regarding anything like that) there is no need to hurry and do a knee jerk reaction. Just because Mojang claims it is a trademark doesn't necessarily make it so. That isn't how trademark law works.
Give it a little bit of time. Eventually the impact of this ruling is going to be reflected in whatever Mojang does, but that impact hasn't happened yet. If Bethesda had won and with that win had been able to get a restraining order against Mojang, you had better believe that would have been changed immediately.
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Posted Mar 12, 2012The thing is, Bethesda never said they owned the word. However, Mojang applied for a trademark over it, essentially saying that Mojang should exclusively have the right to use "scrolls" in reference to game titles (and potentially titles of other works as well).
Bethesda never tried trademarking "scrolls", so they didn't own it and they didn't try to stop anyone else from making a game with "scrolls" generically used in the title. However, if Mojang acquired trademark over "scrolls", it would conflict with Bethesda's right to call their series "The Elder Scrolls", especially since both Bethesda and Mojang are in the gaming industry.
Whilst the actual developers at Mojang and Bethesda are amicable with each other, no sane company lawyer is gonna leave a loose end like that. To protect Bethesda's right to maintain trademark over "The Elder Scrolls", and prevent Mojang from ever having the ability to sue them over it, they had to stop Mojang from trademarking "scrolls" in the first place.
Imagine if Jasc applied for a trademark of "shop" in reference to their "Paintshop" software. This would be a direct threat to Adobe, which is already under threat of losing their trademark over "Photoshop" (thanks to modern usage referring to any edited image), specifically because both Paintshop and Photoshop are digital image editing software. Neither company owns trademark over "shop" in reference to image editing, but if either applied for such a trademark they would be threatening the other (whether intentionally or not).
I don't see this as either side being greedy; it's just a consequence of how laws over trademark work. I don't think either side was "bad" here, and I don't think either side won or lost. Let it be noted that Notch said he didn't originally want to try trademarking "scrolls", and that the lawsuit itself was done directly in response to the trademark application. Bethesda would not have sued to stop Mojang from naming their game "Scrolls"; if they didn't want anyone to make a game called "Scrolls" they would have trademarked the word themselves.
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Posted Mar 12, 2012But seriously, glad that the lawsuit ended.
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Posted Mar 12, 20122. Well, if it weren't for the fact I'm kinda tied up on my own server the Savage REalms thing looks really cool...
3. Hooray for Mojang being able to use Scrolls as their title! Sounds like a fun game, might just have to try that Alpha...
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Posted Mar 12, 2012This isn't quite right either. Bethesda and Mojang could have worked out a joint licensing agreement between the two companies and still protected the respective trademarks. I am not privy to the negotiations that happened between Mojang and Bethesda, but the point that should be raised is that these negotiations between these two companies broke down in a real hurry and led to a judge acting as a referee to decide how it should end up. If you can settle out of court, it makes life a whole lot easier... but somebody got greedy and I don't know if it was Mojang or Bethesda.
Obviously around here it would be Mojang's side that would be usually supported. On the whole Mojang has been pretty open about the reuse of their intellectual property, but trademarks can be a touchy issue since licensing trademarks is one of the few really good revenue streams that Mojang has beyond players buying a game license so I can't really say who was in the right or wrong on this issue. The comparison with the Adobe trademarks isn't really an accurate one either, although I will admit that case law for trademarks is tricky enough when you are talking a single national court system, much less when you deal with international intellectual property law and trademark treaties that cross multiple jurisdiction like this particular legal mess ended up doing.
That the situation was settled to both Mojang's and Bethesda's satisfaction should be sufficient here, even though it did end up before judicial authorities.