Scroll's Edge: Bethesda Threatens Legal Action Over Minecraft Creator's “Scrolls”
Scroll's Edge: Bethesda Threatens Legal Action Over Minecraft Creator's “Scrolls”
Posted 08/09/2011 at 12:25am
| by Nathan Grayson
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Well now, this is unpleasant. Bethesda, creator of games we really love, and Notch, creator of other games we really love, have gotten into a bit of a tiff. You know, the kind with lawyers and words like “trademark infringement.” Yes, that's right: Bethesda's serving papers over, well, a word referring to a rolled up piece of paper. So, what's hat-wearing wonder Notch have to say about all this?
“We looked things up and realized they didn’t have much of a case, but we still took it seriously,” he said in a post on his personal blog. “Nothing about Scrolls is meant to in any way derive from or allude to their games. We suggested a compromise where we’d agree to never put any words in front of 'Scrolls', and instead call sequels and other things something along the lines of 'Scrolls - The Banana Expansion'. I’m not sure if they ever got back to us with a reply to this.”
“Today, 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.”
So yes, a storm's definitely brewing. Conveniently, there's kinda-sorta legal precedent for this, what with Tim Langdell's tidal wave of “edge” nonsense that finally wrapped up earlier this year. However, as RPS points out, court is rarely a fair place, and Scrolls' “card-based RPG” designation could put it within firing (or dragon-mauling, as it were) range of Elder Scrolls plain old “RPG.”
Is Bethesda justified here? Almost certainly not. But can it bully Notch into submission – or at least get him to shell out for rights? Probably. So then, the age old question: What's in a name? A whole damn lot of trouble, apparently. The question for Notch, however, is whether it's more trouble than it's worth.
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michaelnomad
August 10, 2011 at 9:11am
I remember reading about how Groucho Marx responded to Warner Bros. when the threatened to sue over his making a movie called "A Night in Casablanca". If you're interested in the exchange of letters, check:
http://www.mamohanraj.com/Amusing/warner.html
CalDrumr
August 09, 2011 at 12:04pm
That's pretty sad. I picked up a Scroll of Spirit in World of Warcraft once. Bethesda should probably sue for it.
Darkside2984
August 09, 2011 at 11:21am
Am I the only one that went 'huh?' right after reading the article. I am not familiar with any scroll titled game coming from the accused and really am forced to scratch my head. In America, if you file a frivilous lawsuit that has no basis on the merits you can claim attorneys fees as part of your damages against the acting party. That would mean that Bethesda would pay damages for bringing the action AND the fees of the attorneys for the other side.
That being said, this was filed in Sweden (which may have more Bethesda friendly TM laws) and I have no idea about patent precedent there. Maybe it will end up before the European Parliament. Lord knows they don't have enough on their plates at the moment.
In the meantime keep us updated MPC.
Havok
August 09, 2011 at 11:06am
This would be like Activision sueing Ubisoft/Techland because 'Call of Duty' is sooooo similar in name to 'Call of Juarez'.
bloodgain
August 09, 2011 at 11:28am
You're right! A game with "Call of" in the title about shooting guns in a well-known pseudo-historical context! Activision should totally sue them!
Oh, wait, but they won't, because Ubisoft isn't a small indy developer that can be bullied. Oh, right -- and because it would be ridiculous.
MaximumMike
August 09, 2011 at 6:56am
This is stupid. Patent/copyright/trademark legislation has gotten out of hand. Everyone involved (legislators, lawyers, judges, corporate lobyists, etc) should be marched out in the middle of the street and shot.
jiveturkey
August 09, 2011 at 6:32am
This story is BS. Zenimax sent the letter, not Bethesda. Come on guys.
Havok
August 09, 2011 at 11:04am
That's true, but the Bethesda legal team is provided by their parent company, Zenimax. So, therefore, Bethesda is sueing Mojang. Zenimax is afraid that one word will screw over their franchise. In my mind, it already has. I ain't buying Skyrim now.
skirge01
August 09, 2011 at 5:23am
First, companies pay for laws to be written, so the bigger wallet wins.
Second, most gamers are not loyal at all. They'll jump ship at the first opportunity.
bachman
August 09, 2011 at 2:26am
I for one plan on speaking with my wallet. If enough people buy Notch's games and boycott bethesda's, maybe they'll grow up. That's probably wishful thinking though.
thetechchild
August 09, 2011 at 12:51am
There's no way in hell that Bethesda has the right to do this. Bethesda is not a generic owner of the RPG concept, nor is it the owner of the word "Scrolls." That's like saying George Lucas has rights to the word "Star" and "Wars."
I can't say if Notch will settle, or if he'll win any court case that he decides to go through with, but I can say that the general public will definitely back Notch. If Bethesda doesn't want to feel the hatred of the community in the sales and revenue of their games, some higher-up had better realize that they're stupid to try to pull their big corporation weight to bully an indie dev.
iceman08
August 09, 2011 at 5:28am
well, George Lucas (lucasfilms) has rights to the word "lightsaber". If a movie with the name "lightsaber chronicles" came out and with a similar premise, but was a webisode, I think he can get his money's worth from the creators. tho I don't agree with the bullying of the indie dev. that's just poor taste
Biceps
August 09, 2011 at 6:50am
Right, but he created the entire idea of a lightsaber. Scrolls have been around for millenia.
iceman08
August 09, 2011 at 7:55am
And no one has thought to license the name "scrolls" until these guys, possibly, and licensed it as a title name. common words like "the", "and" and "it" are impossible to enforce licensing on those words. either way, somebody better have good lawyers
bloodgain
August 09, 2011 at 8:26am
You don't license names and words, you license intellectual property that is protected by copyright or a patent. You can trademark a name, and "Elder Scrolls" is trademarked, but that doesn't keep someone from using the word "elder" or "scrolls" in another trademark or title. They're only suing because it's an RPG that uses "scrolls" in its title, so they think they can bully him by claiming that he's piggy-backing off of their title (see "derived works").
For example, as you and Biceps were discussing, Lucas has "lightsaber" trademarked in both name and design, but they can really only do anything about it when someone uses the same work or mimics a Lucas lightsaber design.
Here's a short list of names Lucas can't (and doesn't) do anything about people using: light sword, laser sword, plasma sword, energy sword, laser saber, plasma saber, energy saber. So if a web show called "Lightsword Chronicles" came out, Lucas couldn't do a thing about it, unless they cribbed directly from Star Wars IP.
iceman08
August 09, 2011 at 8:42am
LucasArts went after Wicked Lasers for mimicing a lightsaber with a laser pointer
bloodgain
August 09, 2011 at 11:24am
You're right, they did -- because it copied specific designs created by LucasArts. I probably should have been more specific. LucasArts can't go after someone for mimicking the idea behind a lightsaber, that is a handle with a "sword" made up of charged particles emanating from it. If someone cribs Darth Vader's lightsaber handle, though, LucasArts can certainly claim copyright/trademark infringement.
Do you really not see the distinction there? Bethesda/Zenimax is trying to stop someone from using a common English word alongside the concept of an RPG, neither of which Bethesda came up with. If the game interface for Scroll's Edge looked just like Oblivion's interface, Bethesda would have every right to do something about it, but then the game could be called "Generic RPG by Notch" and it would still infringe on their design.
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