Minecraft-Bethesda fight going to court

As much as I love Bethesda, I have to go with Mojang on this. Still, there are dips that may mistake the 2 games. Go figure.

They do not own the language. So if someone makes a game and calls it "My Elder Brother", will they sue because they have used elder!! Next they will try to sue you for using "The" or the Roman numeral for five in your title. If they are successful in this, then the makers of the very first pc game to use or mention scrolls will be able to sue them. Where will it end. If they had used the term "elder scroll" or "elder scrolls" then I could understand. Or, a name gamers will be familiar with, if they had used "eldar", then there is an issue. I say again....They do not own the language!!! Are they going to make keyboard manufacturers stopping using the term "scroll key"? Or is it all just another big advertising scam.....?....?.....?

i disagree with you @mattdadrus, @Jkik2000, and every one that doesnt know the real problem that this causes to bethesda in the near future... just read this and tell me if bethesda is a jerk, x,y... or if it is doing the right thing by watching his back http://kotaku.com/5846111/mojang-v-bethesda-or-i-hate-it-when-mommy-and-daddy-fight

I am on Mojangs side, I don't think it is necessary for Beth to sue Mojang for putting the word "scrolls" in Notch's upcoming game, Scrolls I mean really, Fortresscraft was not sued by Mojang for putting "craft" in their game's name. Why would Beth sue Mojang for putting "scrolls" in his upcoming game? Maybe Beth is just being mean to Mojang to get more buys. Thats what Major companies want,Money.

Bethesda you jerk...I'm donating the money I was going to spend on Skyrim to Mojang to help with the legal process :)

Seems like everyone is suing everyone nowadays. I think it's just a part of the maximizing profits strategy of modern business.

if his game was called "scrolls of the elders" i'd see a problem. as it is, though, i doubt they have a legal leg to stand on.

@Scorchstar You say it would be awesome to work for Bethesda... But, really, who do you think has more fun? The developers at Bethesa, or the ones at Mojang? I don't think you needed to make three posts expressing your dislike for Minecraft and your love for Bethesda, really... :P

I'm still buying Skyrim when it comes out but....this whole lawsuit is dumb. You cant trademark a word that's been used for thousands of years.

You go Persson!!! Take down the man! ****in lawyers

Bethesda is whiny. There's a game coming called World of Warplanes, and Blizzard hasn't said anything(yet)

I think Persson handled it well - and maturely. Especially when offering a little gaming competition for the usage of the word. At least he didn't try throwing money at him like a corporate gaming company would have. But then again - had he.... he probably would've been able to use it.

This is just petty, and only being done because Skyrim is launching this year and the lawyers are hyper-sensitive. They're hoping they can scare him into submission because they can afford the legal battle better than he can, but if he wins they will have to pay his court costs.

I feel the need to clarify a couple of things: We realized we should apply for the trademark "Minecraft" to protect our brand. When doing so, we also sent in an application for "Scrolls". When Bethesda contacted us, we offered both to change the name to "Scrolls: [some subtitle]" and to give up the trademark. They refused on both counts. Whatever reason they have for suing us, it's not a fear of us having a trademark on the word "Scrolls", as we've offered to give that up. Source: http://kotaku.com/5846240/notch-offered-to-give-up-scrolls-trademark-bethesda-sued-anyway ^^ That's simply the game of business. Some people play differently, some people play it like this. If you can't handle it, you're not ready to start your own company.

@ChaoticLucidity Two can play that game: http://kotaku.com/5846240/notch-offered-to-give-up-scrolls-trademark-bethesda-sued-anyway I just hope we don't get to a point in time where companies can sue somebody for using a word that was written down thousands of years ago!

Bethseda,you're a big rich company,this "Scrolls" game has nothing to do with your game,and you are in no way going to lose money over this.Why are you using such a dirty tactic? What have you got against Persson?

Bethseda is just being a jerk over this. They can't trademark the word "Scrolls" so that no one can use it in a game title. He's not taking their characters or ideas. He's just taking the word "scrolls" and making it a title. I don't care what anyone says,Bethseda simply can't OWN that word.

Bethesda need to pull their collective tampon out, and Mojang need to stop trying to trademark a word. problem solved?

Before everyone starts poundin the cement with Bethesda's head: http://kotaku.com/5846111/mojang-v-bethesda-or-i-hate-it-when-mommy-and-daddy-fight

Consequences: Everyone will hate you. Benefits: ?? Not sure Im following their train of thought on this decision.

I didn't like Minecraft, but it was impressive for a Indie Developer to make by himself.

I don't care who wins, I just wanna play their games. Minecraft was not that good (my opininon) but I do like The Elder Scrolls, because it takes a couple of years to finish the game with a good storyline and everything. Its more Fantasy realistic.

I Like Bethesda, it would be SO cool to work with them. I played Minecraft for 10 minutes and hated it, but still, why does a big company with heaps of money, Bethesda have to sue a Indie Dev that could of got loads of money from this game but has had no way of having money since the developing proccess of the game? He must of been limiting what he could buy since the development of it .

I like the games that Bethesda makes, but I don't really like this. And I don't like the whole Fallout Online mess either.

We the gamers stand behind you, Mojang! Take it to the legal corporate drones!

you know after reading the post i can't help but think about the sony bleemcast lawsuit. not to agree if it was right or wrong but the out come, as the company was undone simply by lawyers fees. i hope it doesn't come to that, i hate to think they are just doing a suit to drag a company under with legal fees. because they have not legal right to sue just take the smaller company under with fees

I don't even think they have a chance of winning. This is the main use of copyright today, a way of bigger companies to prevent competition from newcomers. You threaten a lot of newcomers by suing one, even if you don't win it. Still weird to see Bethesda do this. Maybe they have a legal department that doesn't really know anything about the gaming world. It's a very underhanded tactic, and they will lose.

I was drunk when i wrote that took it down guess i did not know the facts.

Two words, Tim Langdell http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/06/16/tim-langdell-loses-in-future-edge-trial/

@carnivalshow minecraft is a game, not a company. No matter how good bethesda's games are, that was still a dirty move, saying that they own the word "scrolls"

@carnivalshow Are you mental or something? Bethesda (a great developer) is just being a poor sport. Mojang wanted to just settle this nice and easy without going to court, but Bethesda wants none of it. You're calling Mojang greedy when they are the ones who don't want to go to court. Biased fanboy much?

Bethesda, I love you, but you are way out of line here. @carnivalshow I don't much like Minecraft either, but Perrson is an independent developer who single-handedly built a game a lot of people like. For that he has my respect.

I am 100 percent behind Mojang in this. It's a prime example of Bigger guys bullying Indy companies. Guess they were jealous of Minecraft's Success?

[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]

[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]

.... in the end, everyone will just want to play good games and enjoy themselves....

bethesda can't come up with a group of guys man enough to take on notch and crew in Quake 3 Arena??? It was such a reasonable request to end a pointless legal dispute....for shame! It would have gone a long way towards making developers look like decent people rather than corporate monsters.

I'm not upset with Bethesda over this, because it's not them, it's their greedy lawyers and the big business guys who own it. the developers probably have no say in this.

Screw Bethesda, they're going downhill fast. Trademarking one word is just stupid and greedy. Heck, Nintendo ought to trademark "Super". Or "Bros." I hope Pesson wins!

I'm not going to lie, I'm still going to buy Skyrim, I want to play that game so badly. Though I now look at Bethesda in a totally different light. I use to say, "Oh a Bethesda game, interesting." now it will be, "Hey remember that case they had?" before I even notice the name of the game.

no, im not gonna boycott any bethesda games, but this is a stupid and sh**ty move from them:evil:; i really hope they lose this and end up paying loads of money to notch ;)

Exactly. The worst example of this was when Avatar: The Last Airbender's film was renamed "The Last Airbender". Purely because "Avatar" was being used in another film. The two films are nothing alike and anyone who thinks "oh no, people might get confused" really needs to get a reality check. People are smarter than they look! Instead of this, why not attack mockbusters who rip off consumers by posing as a real product!

beth, like all company's are greedy, and will do anything they can to make more money, even if that means shutting down the small guy, its not about the name, but about killing off and sort of competition.

they're gonna get a bad rep from this... this could actually hurt bethesda, over something so petty. stupid move.

This is unreal. Look out super mario! You may be infringing on Super C's copyright!!

I'm shocked to see Bethesda doing this.....their not a company that does crap like this.

Oh, and don't mention anything about the serious problem of "elder abuse" because Bethesda might think you are infringing on their trademark.