Bethesda vs. Mojang: 'Scrolls' case going to court

scrollzs

Most people are bandwagoning on Mojang's side, but I completely understand Bethesda's side. "Scrolls" is such a generic name and is a word contained in the titles of other games, including Bethesda's own series. It really is in their best interest to prevent the word from being trademarked.

Get voted down for siding with the little guy, wow.

Users have failed.

So, Bethesda thinks they can own a word?

I don't understand a word of this Jibba Jabba

I'll give Notch a dollar if he uses "We're Swedish, we didn't know any better." or "It means something different in Swedish." in court.

I made a quick flash game in my spare time...I named it "Cards".


Sue me.

Atari should sue Bethesda for use of the suffix "out".

I'm going to start randomly trademarking words so I can sue the face off anyone who attempts to even use 1 of them!

Seriously though, no one owns the word "Scrolls" so gtfo!

I'm really not gonna buy anything Bethesda anymore. Goddamn, how low can you go about such things?

Games were made with fun and for fun, not for money and all that other bullshit these big companies are pulling. All that arrogance shines from Activision, Microsoft and Bethesda, and they should get just about bankrupt for all their acts against the development of video games.

But what can I do other than just hate them?

This is really a dick move on Bethesda's part. This would be like Blizzard going after Mojang for using the word "craft" in a title. In a world where Dead Rising and Dead Island and Left4Dead can exist without confusion, I think it's safe to say that Bethesda has no leg to stand on here.

A scroll is a common object in fantasy video games. This case is a waste of time and money. I'm all for protecting one's properties, but this is a stretch.

meh, I just cancelled my pre-order for Rage and Skyrim. I'll buy 'em once they drop the suit.

Shame, because I like some of Bethesda's games. I'm disappointed that the profits I've helped them make are going to wasteful, frivolous lawsuits.

*sigh* Here we go again. Another news story about the "Bethesda vs Mojang" trademark dispute, and suddenly people get all worked up with "Anti-Bethesda" hysteria and canceling preorders without even bothering to research trademark law or, heaven forbid, the actual trademarks related to this dispute. And once more, people seem to be blindly latching on to the concept that Notch and crew are somehow victims in this whole mess. Now there's a lot more to this whole issue than the rather narrow-minded view that "Notch is right, Bethesda is wrong and being bullies" that a lot of people seem to have adopted of late. Like everything else in this world, this trademark dispute is hardly so black and white. Let's examine the facts of the issue in detail before passing judgement on either party.

First of all, the way trademark law works is once you register a trademark, you have to defend it against any and all threats or risk losing it (and this has been mentioned several times now). This doesn't mean that one company gets to use that trademark exclusively though. Different companies can hold the same trademark (well, the same trademarked word at least) for different products. For example, you're probably familiar with Id Software's trademark on "Rage", but this trademark can co-exist with other "Rage" trademarks like the "Rage" trademark on motor-scooters and another "Rage" trademark on pesticides (fun fact: there's over 30 different trademarks on the word "Rage"). You see trademark disputes when a company owns a trademark and another company tries to register a similar trademark for the same product type (in this case it's computer games). That by itself isn't necessarily enough to pursue trademark infringement (unless you're Tim Langdell), you also have to establish a case for similarity. With "The Elder Scrolls" and "Scrolls" the similarities should be apparent to anyone who has actually looked up the two games. They're both fantasy themed and they both appear to have RPG-like elements to them. That right there is enough to establish trademark infringement for most legal courts, so Bethesda does have a fairly decent case. And again, as stated at the start of this paragraph, if Bethesda didn't take any legal action to this threat to their trademark, it could cause them to lose "The Elder Scrolls" later on.

*Please note that when I say that "Scrolls" and "The Elder Scrolls" have notable similarities, I'm talking about the kind of similarities that will determine the outcome of the case in court. Obviously "Scrolls" and "The Elder Scrolls" are two very different games and have few actual gameplay similarities. As gamers, we all know that, but we're talking about trademark similarities with a court of law, not a court of gamers. Tim Langdell got away with his whole "Edge" trademark trolling with far less, he didn't even have an argument for similarities other than they were games.*

Furthermore, it's important to consider that trademark disputes are not rare, in fact, they're fairly common. Although it must be admitted that most trademark disputes are not revealed to the public (or gather much media attention), much less announced on Twitter. Besides the Tim Langdell cases and this one, how many trademark disputes has anyone actually heard about? Not many, I'd gather. What is rather unique about this case is that it's actually going to court, as usually the two parties in a trademark dispute settle matters outside of the courtroom.

And, if you're still having doubts about the legitimacy of Bethesda's case, here's a quote from a legal expert interviewed by Wired.com last month.

" Attorney and game industry analyst Mark Methenitis told Wired.com that the publisher was just doing what any prudent trademark holder would normally do.

"The basic question here is whether the two trademarks are likely to be confused," Methenitis said in an e-mail. "There's a pretty well-established test for this under U.S. trademark law, and based on those factors, Bethesda has a reasonable argument." "

Source: http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2011/08/minecraft-bethesda-lawsuit/

Finally, before you jump to take Notch's side in this issue, you should know the specifics of his "Scrolls" trademark. I took the liberty of looking it up on the Electronic Trademark Database and it's pretty surprising. It's not just a trademark on computer-games. Notch's trademark for the word "Scrolls" includes clothing (of all types, including t-shirts), hardware platforms, boardgames, toys, hand-helds, and traditional card games. This means that Bethesda's case against Mojang may not be the last court battle Notch will have to face over this, as his trademark clearly violates the trademarks of other companies (such as the Scrolls Clothing Company, which owns the trademark of "Scrolls" for t-shirts). The sheer broadness of Notch's "Scrolls" trademark is rather astounding, as most companies specify one thing for a trademark and make additional trademark registrations for additional products (for example, Bethesda has 6 separate trademarks on "The Elder Scrolls", covering everything from clothing to their forums, but each trademark covers only one thing). I imagine this is usually done in order to avoid large-scale trademark infringements.

Furthermore, just because you make a game doesn't mean you have to register a trademark for it! The vast majority of indie games DO NOT have trademarks! It's not a legal requirement in the slightest, and Notch could keep the name of his game as "Scrolls" if he dropped the trademark. Heck, I imagine there wouldn't be much of a legal issue if he had trademarked a full title like "Scrolls: The Card Game" or anything a little more complicated than just "Scrolls".

If you're interested in doing a bit of research on this subject, I encourage you to look up the trademarks that are involved. You can find Notch's trademark (and pretty much every other trademark ever registered) at this website: http://tess2.uspto.gov/

People seem a bit confused and just think that Bethesda is trying to bully Mojang to change the name of the game for a petty reason. First thing you need to understand is that they own the trademark for the title "The Elder Scrolls" and Mojang has trademarked the single word "Scrolls".
The problem here isn't that Bethesda doesn't want them using a similar title but that they practically have to. A trademark has various ways it can be lost all together, these are dilution, erosion, and becoming genericized. A simple Wikipedia search will help people learn the basics of each way. This means that a company has to fight to try and protect itself from similarly named or competing products in hopes that they won't lose their original claim.
I'm assuming this happens much more often then is heard about and I believe Notch is being rather immature by calling attention to it and insinuating that Bethesda is in any way at fault or simply bullying him. People need to stop thinking the little guy is always right and actually put some research into the real issue instead of playing the "evil corporations" name game.

So... Uhm... How many of you knew about Mojang's 'Scrolls' BEFORE Bethesda sued?

I think Notch is giddy about this because A) He knews the suit's on shaky ground, B) He could easily change the name with a loss and C) Any 'damages' awarded would likely be far less than the amount of advertising he now doesn't have to do.

I hope they lose , so the game would be called "Rimjob- Old Toiletpaper Rolls of Elders 6"

I understand that Bethesda is being stupid, but I am a gamer, and nothing is stopping me from preordering Skyrim. I already did. I also own a premium account for Minecraft. I'm not a part of their conflict, so I'll be on MY OWN. Nobody is gonna tell me what I can and can't play, Minecraft and Oblivion ARE my favorite games. I am NOT going to boycott ANYTHING because of this, and neither should you.