Protecting your trademarks and patents is essential for any games business. However, randomly trying to shoehorn single words that are 'related' to your game name is, frankly, legal nonsense. This is what Minecraft creator Notch is discovering.
Basically, Bethesda's lawyers are trying to sue Notch and his team over the word 'Scrolls'. The Notch team is working on a new game called... Scrolls. Bethesda has Elder Scrolls. The lawyers want money.
In his blog, Notch (aka Markus Persson) is even-handed on the issue:
"First of all, I love Bethesda. I assume this nonsense is partly just their lawyers being lawyers, and a result of trademark law being the way it is."
He details the situation, "About half a year ago, our lawyers recommended us to register Minecraft as a trademark, so we did. I had voted against it initially, but we did it anyway. Better safe than sorry, and all that. At the same time, we also applied for Scrolls, the new game we’re working on. We knew of no similarly named games, and we had even googled it to make sure. I’m not even sure if you CAN trademark individual words, like Scrolls, but we sent in the application anyway."
He also points out that he has had recourse to the law:
"Disclosure: We’ve enforced the trademark for Minecraft once, when there was a minecraft clone on iOS, using our name. People were emailing me saying our iOS version was buggy and bad, so we asked them to change the name of their game, and they did."
"Reasonable" seems to be a word he should copyright. Anyway, he then explains what's been happening with Bethesda.
"A while later, out of the blue, we got contacted by Bethesda’s lawyers. They wanted to know more about the Scrolls trademark we were applying for, and claimed it conflicted with their existing trademark The Elder Scrolls..."
And then on August 5th, "I got a 15 page letter from some Swedish lawyer firm, saying they demand us to stop using the name Scrolls, that they will sue us (and have already paid the fee to the Swedish court), and that they demand a pile of money up front before the legal process has even started.
"I assume this is all some more or less automated response to us applying for the trademark. I sincerely hope Bethesda isn’t pulling a Tim Langdell."
Read the full thing here.
Basically, Bethesda's lawyers are trying to sue Notch and his team over the word 'Scrolls'. The Notch team is working on a new game called... Scrolls. Bethesda has Elder Scrolls. The lawyers want money.
In his blog, Notch (aka Markus Persson) is even-handed on the issue:
"First of all, I love Bethesda. I assume this nonsense is partly just their lawyers being lawyers, and a result of trademark law being the way it is."
He details the situation, "About half a year ago, our lawyers recommended us to register Minecraft as a trademark, so we did. I had voted against it initially, but we did it anyway. Better safe than sorry, and all that. At the same time, we also applied for Scrolls, the new game we’re working on. We knew of no similarly named games, and we had even googled it to make sure. I’m not even sure if you CAN trademark individual words, like Scrolls, but we sent in the application anyway."
He also points out that he has had recourse to the law:
"Disclosure: We’ve enforced the trademark for Minecraft once, when there was a minecraft clone on iOS, using our name. People were emailing me saying our iOS version was buggy and bad, so we asked them to change the name of their game, and they did."
"Reasonable" seems to be a word he should copyright. Anyway, he then explains what's been happening with Bethesda.
"A while later, out of the blue, we got contacted by Bethesda’s lawyers. They wanted to know more about the Scrolls trademark we were applying for, and claimed it conflicted with their existing trademark The Elder Scrolls..."
And then on August 5th, "I got a 15 page letter from some Swedish lawyer firm, saying they demand us to stop using the name Scrolls, that they will sue us (and have already paid the fee to the Swedish court), and that they demand a pile of money up front before the legal process has even started.
"I assume this is all some more or less automated response to us applying for the trademark. I sincerely hope Bethesda isn’t pulling a Tim Langdell."
Read the full thing here.
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Comments
Ryan550 8 Aug 2011 14:04
1/3
Weather forecast just in... "advertising with a chance of money". Weather or not Bethesda win's or not.. 1 thing is certain.. controversy attracts attention and "Elder scrolls" is now in my mind after reading this..
This is not all that different when an unknown developer comes out of no where with a controversial opinion.. by the time he/she is done talking.. you know who they are and what studio they represent and what their upcoming game is..
Now before some skyrim fanboy jumps out of a bush with a blund sword they have been playing with in their backyard and goes mad by saying "Skyrim is already super popularrrrr"
what I am talking about is the effect of which a controversial action or opinion has will attract many people to read it and this court case is no different..
My guess is that this will be settled or will fade out of memory...
This is not all that different when an unknown developer comes out of no where with a controversial opinion.. by the time he/she is done talking.. you know who they are and what studio they represent and what their upcoming game is..
Now before some skyrim fanboy jumps out of a bush with a blund sword they have been playing with in their backyard and goes mad by saying "Skyrim is already super popularrrrr"
what I am talking about is the effect of which a controversial action or opinion has will attract many people to read it and this court case is no different..
My guess is that this will be settled or will fade out of memory...
Ryan550 8 Aug 2011 14:05
2/3
blunt*^* damn.
eclipse 22 Aug 2011 16:15
3/3
lol i agree possible a stunt to get more attention for they're game but who knows. i'm even a fan of the elder scrolls and i dont have a problem believing that is the case