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Bethesda's 'Scrolls' Lawsuit Going Ahead

Posted by Soulskill on from the really-guys dept.

New submitter person46 writes "Bethesda's lawsuit against Mojang, developers of Minecraft, is going to court. As you may recall, Bethesda is claiming copyright infringement over the title of Mojang's upcoming CCG/board game Scrolls. Bethesda claims that the name and game concept are too similar to their well-known RPG franchise The Elder Scrolls. '[C]ourt documents show that Bethesda lawyers plan to use comments on Scrolls articles and videos from around the web to show how people will confuse Scrolls with The Elder Scrolls. He also added that they've captured screenshots of Scrolls' trailer as a way of showing how Mojang has copied Bethesda because both Skyrim and Scrolls contain mountains.' Mojang founder Notch had offered to settle the dispute with a friendly game of Quake 3, but apparently Bethesda wasn't up for that."

3 of 332 comments (clear)

  1. amusing side note... by wierd_w · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The very topic of this pending lawsuit is a forbidden one on the bethesda game studios forums.

    From my own expierences on that forum several years ago, I can pretty much assure you that it is enforced with gestapo like ferocity, at the behest of the legal and corporate drones, and the moderator staff is all too willing to enforce such censorship.

    Long ago I swore off ever buying another bethesda softworks title as direct retail (I will only purchase second hand, to ensure that they never receive any of my money) and things like this only reinforce that opinion.

    1. Re:amusing side note... by wierd_w · · Score: 2, Interesting

      If you don't believe me, just try going there and asking innocently about it in the forum, and see how politely it gets treated. Seriously, go try it. :)

      And no, I am not being hipocritical here. I really do not regret my decision to stop giving them my money.

    2. Re:amusing side note... by RobinEggs · · Score: 2, Interesting

      well then you surely would not mind me walking into your living room and calling your wife a whore would you?

      The living room analogy again? I see this every time there's a mention of forum censorship. And it's a completely foolish response.

      If we insist on some analogy to meatspace, a developer's user-forum is more like an open house. They've specifically invited anyone and everyone with an interest in their product, their brand, and their company to a central space for discussion and information dispersal. Tiptoeing around and only say positive things about the host may be polite in some ways, but it completely and utterly defeats the purpose of showing up at a place intended to directly connect the fans. Harsh opinions exist; don't pretend to make a cozy central gathering place for your customers to converse amongst themselves, and with you, then proceed to ruthlessly censor all critical or controversial comments.

      If you don't plan on allowing negative viewpoints or serious discussions you can't call it a forum with a straight face.