News

Bethesda: We were 'forced' to sue Mojang
Posted: 09.10.2011 09:10 by JonahFalcon Comments: 19
Bethesa's VP of marketing Pete Hines claims that ZeniMax was "forced" into suing Mojang for calling their digital card game "Scrolls", claiming it caused market confusion with The Elder Scrolls.

"Mojang's public comments have not given a complete picture as it relates to their filings, our trademarks, or events that have taken place," stated Hines. According to Kotaku, ZeniMax's duty to protect its trademark includes the word "Scrolls", thanks to the US Patent & Trademark office noting the naming similarity in a letter filed two weeks before ZeniMax's suit. The USPTO rejected Mojang's US trademark application.

ZeniMax is legally obligated to defend its trademark, and deny any permutation of the word "Scrolls" in Mojang's game, because, as Kotaku stated, "someone may intentionally try to damage Zenimax's brand by releasing a game called, for example, Eldritch Scrolls X: Skyrim the Love Dragon. Or Morrowind from the Nether Regions, an Elder Rolls Game." As Hines stated, "Nobody here enjoys being forced into this. Hopefully it will all be resolved soon."

That being said, it seems odd Bethesda could sue someone for using a word in the English language.
Source: Shacknews

Comments

By YouriRevenn (SI Veteran Member) on Oct 09, 2011
YouriRevenn
This is a bad joke...
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Oct 09, 2011
SirRoderick
This is beyond retarded. Might as well sue them for using the word "elder".

It is bafflingly, flabbergastingly assinine.
By Xyfer117 (SI Core) on Oct 09, 2011
Xyfer117
Lol surely they can't sue them for that...
By Gyorn (SI Core) on Oct 09, 2011
Gyorn
This is madness -.- (am i allowed to say that without beeing sued?)
This would be the time for egypt to step in, after all they used scrolls long before the first computer existed...
By Jasca_Ducato (SI Core Veteran) on Oct 09, 2011
Jasca_Ducato
I can completely understand sueing a company who have named their game "Eldritch Scrolls X: Skyrim the Love Dragon", but simply "Scrolls"?

Still being retarded to me....
By nocutius (SI Elite) on Oct 09, 2011
nocutius
Agree with everyone here, Bethesda is clearly in the wrong in this case, absolutely no doubt about it. They should stop being dicks.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Oct 09, 2011
herodotus
Noone can force you to sue, that's crap. As for this nonsense, sure "Elder Scrolls" might be copyrighted acceptably but "Scrolls" by itself should be challenged by every gaming developer out there.
By Chosen_One (SI Core) on Oct 10, 2011
Chosen_One
a ha ha..they couldn't win with Interplay now they sue lesser ones... ))) good sense of humor they have.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Oct 10, 2011
herodotus
Microsoft tried, unsuccessfully to sue AMD when it kept copying the Intel chip's number (286, 386, 486) but they couldn't copyright a number. Hence the Pentium was born. Using a common usage word should be similarly kept in the public domain.
By FoolWolf (SI Elite) on Oct 10, 2011
FoolWolf
Bethesda has become a joke since they became a publisher. The games are of mediocre quality, have loads of bugs and many seems to be poor ideas all put together and they don't seem to really care that much for PC gaming anymore. This latest hubris just shows the truth to the statement "all the heroes are dead"...

Go Mojang!
By Jasca_Ducato (SI Core Veteran) on Oct 10, 2011
Jasca_Ducato
Honestly, I think this is more about ZeniMax filling their annual quota than actually defending Betesda's intellectual property; something which isn't even really, truly at risk here. Christ.
By ViGotH (SI Core) on Oct 10, 2011
ViGotH
No comment on this one. This is all confusing.
By bosnian_dragon (SI Core) on Oct 10, 2011
bosnian_dragon
Really disappointing from Bethesda... I can't believe they are banning the word from being used in artistic work!
By Chosen_One (SI Core) on Oct 10, 2011
Chosen_One
They just like jokes! ) April fool joke )..oh...wait...it is October now..
By JonahFalcon (SI Elite) on Oct 11, 2011
JonahFalcon
This crap doesn't happen with movies. For example, there's a film called Chop Kick Panda, about a fat panda named Zibo who has to defeat a tiger villain.

So... yeah.
By Revan (SI Elite) on Oct 11, 2011
Revan
Lol Wow!
By JonahFalcon (SI Elite) on Oct 11, 2011
JonahFalcon
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1977747/

hehe
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Oct 11, 2011
SirRoderick
There was also a Chinese version of that movie I think. IIRC, the fat panda was the evil capitalist or something.
By fredyzg (SI Core) on Oct 11, 2011
fredyzg
What do you expect from 2$ addon company?