Notch throws down the gauntlet before Bethesda

What an idiot. Makes for a good PR stunt, but he had better lawyer up.

And we all KNOW he is not going to win. Naming schemes are too similar.
 
Notch is becoming increasingly annoying to me, does he think he's funny or something? "sticking it to the man?". Next time I'm sued maybe I can tell them to play me in Starcraft to settle it? Right? Cause I threw down the terms they must abide by it!

Just shut up notch.
 
eh. This is just notch getting scared. They know they'll have to change the name of their game. Bethesda can afford better lawyers.
 
1) There is no lawsuit or even one filed that we know of at the moment.

2) Bethesda initiated this action because Notch's company filed for and tried to trademark the term "Scrolls." Think about this from Bethesda's point of view for a second about the potential implications if they don't challenge.
 
Correction: I'm going to try and trademark the name Wars and see if George Lucas (and any of the publishers from the games listed above) will sue me :)
 
Nobody I've talked to about the Elder Scrolls game has ever called it "Scrolls"

It's always been

Elder Scrolls
Daggerfall
Morrowwind
Oblivion
Skyrim

Never just "Scrolls"
 
Bethesda is going to loose a bit of sales from these kinds of acts from bad will. I love Bethesda and their games, but this is a bad move, Scrolls is too common a name to considered copyright material It's like Disney few months ago wanting to copyright SEAL TEAM 6. It's an embarrassment and makes Bethesda look like nothing but your average bland corporate entity who just throws lawyers at people.

The amount of money they will spend on the lawyers and fees and possible court costs plus what they will lose in good will with the PC gaming community who might have second thoughts and get the game through 'alternative' means just isn't worth it.
 
limitedaccess said:
1) There is no lawsuit or even one filed that we know of at the moment.

2) Bethesda initiated this action because Notch's company filed for and tried to trademark the term "Scrolls." Think about this from Bethesda's point of view for a second about the potential implications if they don't challenge.
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Ah, I didn't know about #2. That changes everything if that's true. Source?
 
I don't see how Bethesda/Zenimax could possibly win the argument that this "Scrolls" game will in any way shape or form affect "The Elder Scrolls" in any way.
 
Buxaroo said:
Ah, I didn't know about #2. That changes everything if that's true. Source?
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It is actually from a linked article from the article in the OP. But I made a mistake on point 1, it seems things have escalated on the legal side.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/08/08/bethesda-and-notchs-scrolls-off-explained/

While Minecraft creator Marcus ‘Notch’ Persson remains an avowed fan of Bethesda games, the legal argy-bargy between the Elder Documents publisher and Notch’s company Mojang over its forthcoming second game ‘Scrolls’ doesn’t look like dying down any time soon. In fact, the big B has stepped up its efforts, announcing its intention to sue Mojang in a Swedish court, as well as a demand for money. In a blog post explaining a little of his side of things, Notch reveals that this all happened shortly after Mojang tried to trademark ‘Scrolls’, which rang alarm bells for the rights-holders of The Elder Rolled-Up Papers.
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Plague_Injected said:
I don't see how Bethesda/Zenimax could possibly win the argument that this "Scrolls" game will in any way shape or form affect "The Elder Scrolls" in any way.
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It isn't just because they made a game called "Scrolls." The issue stems from Notch trying to trademark the term "scrolls."
 
Well that changes a lot of things then. Looks like Bethesda isn't the bad guy I thought they were. But I still love Notch :p
 
limitedaccess said:
It is actually from a linked article from the article in the OP. But I made a mistake on point 1, it seems things have escalated on the legal side.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/08/08/bethesda-and-notchs-scrolls-off-explained/





It isn't just because they made a game called "Scrolls." The issue stems from Notch trying to trademark the term "scrolls."
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I understood that, but from what I can tell the court can really only stop Notch from trademarking "Scrolls"; I don't see how Bethesda would be entitled to money if the trademark does not go ahead and therefore no damages occur. I know in Australian law that you have to prove that there was damage to win such a case; what's the case in America?

Really Notch should just change the damn name, given it needs to be trademarked at some point. It's not rocket science.
 
Stiler said:
What are you talking about? He has a fairly GOOD case.

You can NOT trademark common generic use names.

"Scrolls" is a simple name, it's not even Bethseda's copyrighted name.

Bethseda doesn't own the right sto the name "Scrolls" by itself, as Scrolls is used in general for a LOT of businesses/products, etc.

It'd be like if Walt Disney owned "mouse" and not "Mickey Mouse."

Mouse is too general, it' sused in names of other businesses/products.

Notch can EASILY win this case if it goes to court with any decent trademark lawyer.
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I think you missed some of the posts above. Notch is trying to trademark "Scrolls", which is why Bethseda is taking action.
 
Stiler said:
What are you talking about? He has a fairly GOOD case.

You can NOT trademark common generic use names.

"Scrolls" is a simple name, it's not even Bethseda's copyrighted name.

Bethseda doesn't own the right sto the name "Scrolls" by itself, as Scrolls is used in general for a LOT of businesses/products, etc.

It'd be like if Walt Disney owned "mouse" and not "Mickey Mouse."

Mouse is too general, it' sused in names of other businesses/products.

Notch can EASILY win this case if it goes to court with any decent trademark lawyer.
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Plague_Injected said:
I understood that, but from what I can tell the court can really only stop Notch from trademarking "Scrolls"; I don't see how Bethesda would be entitled to money if the trademark does not go ahead and therefore no damages occur. I know in Australian law that you have to prove that there was damage to win such a case; what's the case in America?

Really Notch should just change the damn name, given it needs to be trademarked at some point. It's not rocket science.
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Maybe I dont quite understand what's going on here... isn't Bethesda initiating action because Notch is the one trying to trademark "scrolls", which would in turn affect Bethesda's games "Eldar Scrolls". Its not a case of big bad Bethesda saying Notch isn't allowed to use the word Scrolls, rather they're protecting themselves from not being able to use the word Scrolls in the future if Notch trademarks it... not for the sake of seeking damages or crushing the little guy.

If it's as I understand it, Notch is the one going down for trying to trademark a common word.

Its not like Walt Disney suing someone for using the word "mouse". Its like Walt Disney having a character called Mickey Mouse and someone else coming along and trying to trademark the word "mouse" and Walt Disney taking action to ensure they can call their next character "Minnie Mouse" since the word "mouse" is being trademarked by someone else.

Its not Bethesday saying "WE OWN THE WORD SCROLL! RAARGH! NO ONE ELSE CAN USE SCROLLS!" Its them saying "ummm, we dont own the word scrolls, but neither do you".
 
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Mozex said:
I agree that he is being an idiot but I think he has a good case.

The Bethesda brand is "Elder Scrolls", not "Scrolls", "XYZ Scrolls" or "Scrolls: XYZ" where the XYZ changes per title. All of the "Elder Scrolls" games have always included "Elder" as part of the title. And while that series has the most prolific use of the word "Scrolls" there have been a few other games that include scrolls in the title. I think he would win eventually, but it may not be worth the money to fight it.
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Thanks for the awesome logic there, but you need to think about the big picture. How much is he willing to pay to fight for that name. Bethesda already has a horse in the race that feels its needs to protect. You cannot fault the company for that. If you do not defend IP you lose it.
 
Minecraft = earning around $30 million or so since release , Notch also thinks of himself as a Indie god now.

Bethesda = Tons of game releases each year , games have also earned well over a Billion dollars over time and they probably have a few firms on tap in case they need to lawyer up and fight.

Elder Scrolls has been around for ages and it makes sense they (Bethesda) would fight for that reason alone. Notch can act all cute and challenge Bethesda to a Quake 3 match but the response will be "Fuck off , your going to lose and bleed out money you can't afford to lose" and Bethesda will win.

Pretty much that simple.
 
While funny Big B is in the right here and should win easily if it goes to court.
 
This just seems like some bad publicity stunt pulled by Notch. The Elder Scrolls games have been around for years and it's obvious why they wouldn't want any other game using the word scrolls as no other games so far have had that in their title as far as I know.
 
Mozex said:
I agree that he is being an idiot but I think he has a good case.

The Bethesda brand is "Elder Scrolls", not "Scrolls", "XYZ Scrolls" or "Scrolls: XYZ" where the XYZ changes per title. All of the "Elder Scrolls" games have always included "Elder" as part of the title. And while that series has the most prolific use of the word "Scrolls" there have been a few other games that include scrolls in the title. I think he would win eventually, but it may not be worth the money to fight it.

He can't be too attached to the name if he's willing to risk it on a Quake match; so I'm going to assume this is just a publicity stunt and as soon as the trademark dispute starts costing him money he will change the name of the game.
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I think he should be obligated to use a specific name. Proper noun if you will. Scrolls: The inflight magazine or something. Otherwise he can then pull the same on anybody else who uses scrolls as their game name.
 
Mozex said:
I don't fault Bethesda for anything they've done, I just don't think they would be able to stop somebody else from making a video game called "Scrolls" if the matter went to the courts.
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You are showing your understanding of the situation here. Only the courts can "make" anything happen. To get the court to do that, you need attorneys. You will find out quickly if Notch is willing to invest more than an hour of QIII time to defend the name of his unreleased game in court.
 
I don't think Notch even cares that much about the whole thing, the fact that he's willing to pit his rights on the name on nothing more than a deathmatch seems to add weight to this. Nothing more than a out-of-the-ordinary PR stunt.

It's pretty telling though that Notch tried to claim the name "Scrolls", and that Bethesda is merely reacting in an effort to preserve their hugely successful series.

I think Bethesda is getting flak because people paint it as another case of corporate bullying, when that's actually far from the case.
 
Godmachine said:
Minecraft = earning around $30 million or so since release , Notch also thinks of himself as a Indie god now.

Bethesda = Tons of game releases each year , games have also earned well over a Billion dollars over time and they probably have a few firms on tap in case they need to lawyer up and fight.

Elder Scrolls has been around for ages and it makes sense they (Bethesda) would fight for that reason alone. Notch can act all cute and challenge Bethesda to a Quake 3 match but the response will be "Fuck off , your going to lose and bleed out money you can't afford to lose" and Bethesda will win.

Pretty much that simple.
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Considering Bethesda's owner Zenimax is run by a few multi-millionaires and multi-billionaires I'm sure they have more than few law firms on their speed dials.
 
socK said:
Bethseda won't be winning anything if they try, it's just going to waste both parties $$$. It's too common of a word to trademark, it'll just be thrown out. Look at the EA vs Langdell case.


Also the Q3 challenge is awesome
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Well, I am sure you know more about IP law than I do. I do own a US registration on "[H]" and have had to defend it.

You are just plain wrong about it'll just be thrown out....and the two cases are nothing similar as far as IP law goes.
 
Notch thinks he is tough shit because he made minecraft(Sorry, graphics isn't everything,but did we really have to go with graphics that are worse than Half Life 1? First one made, not the source version/better looking version)

How old is he? 15? This is a legal battle, not a little kiddie fight with your friends. Its serious and this Q3 challenge is just childish.
 
Anybody feel like playing some quake III? Just realized I have it on steam. I'd prefer to have it on origin though :(



(Like a puppy on the train tracks bitches)
 
socK said:
Bethseda won't be winning anything if they try, it's just going to waste both parties $$$. It's too common of a word to trademark, it'll just be thrown out. Look at the EA vs Langdell case.


Also the Q3 challenge is awesome
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If you would have read the article then you would have known it is the other way around. Notch is trying to trademark "Scrolls" which is what put Big B on his six. They have to defend their IP or else they lose it, same with any IP infringement case basically.
 
Wow, I didn't catch that he was trying to trademark "scrolls." And here he was making zenimax look like the bad guy. Can I trademark "Tomes" and get away with it?
 
piscian18 said:
Anybody feel like playing some quake III? Just realized I have it on steam. I'd prefer to have it on origin though :(



(Like a puppy on the train tracks bitches)
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Let's just skip this Origin/Steam nonsense and go play Quake Live instead. :p

*Mumbles something about getting a [H]ard | Gaming group going on Quake Live*
 
People should also understand that trademark protection isn't about the word by itself, but the word's association with a particular product or service. So it's significant that Scrolls is a fantasy game.
 
TheOneKnownAsMe said:
Let's just skip this Origin/Steam nonsense and go play Quake Live instead. :p

*Mumbles something about getting a [H]ard | Gaming group going on Quake Live*
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I can create a [H] clan for QL, just tell me what the tag should be if not [H], 5 characters max.
 
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