Bethesda sues Notch over the use of the word "Scrolls"

[Povuholo]

Activision should sue Bethesda for publishing Call of Cthulhu: DCotE, GSC Game World for STALKER Call of Pripyat, and Ubisoft for Call of Juarez. Otherwise people are going to confuse those games with Call of Duty, obviously!

[alonsomartinez]

Activision should sue Bethesda for publishing Call of Cthulhu: DCotE, GSC Game World for STALKER Call of Pripyat, and Ubisoft for Call of Juarez. Otherwise people are going to confuse those games with Call of Duty, obviously!

 

I see what you did there :3

[Povuholo]

Also Notch could be in trouble again because I always confuse Minecraft with Starcraft and World of Warcraft!

[Tchos]

Actually, you can protect common words, such as 'window(s)' or 'apple' if they are used outside the trade where they identify a certain kind of product that is not produced uniquely by a single producer.

I stand corrected on that. I did want to contest the idea that the design of the Scrolls logo was in any way similar to The Elder Scrolls logo or art style in general.

[Brok3nStylus]

It's probably just ZeniMax protecting their trademark. If they are not seen to be protecting it then they stand to lose it. This is pretty common practice. In the end, Mojang will either decide to change the name or keep it to coexist with TES, (they will probably have to pay ZeniMax for that though..)

[DaSeano]

I'm hoping that all this rubbish only came from their legal departments own free will. I dont know why they are worried they will get their games confused. Bethesda and Notch have a pretty mature and intellegent target audience. I doubt anyone can confuse them either. Sounds to me like its a dirty way to take out competition??

[LadyMilla]

I did want to contest the idea that the design of the Scrolls logo was in any way similar to The Elder Scrolls logo or art style in general.

 

Probably the defense will also do that, and they will also argue that the word 'Scrolls', even if it is used in connection with another game, is not sufficient to create the impression that the developer is somehow associated with Zenimax or the games created by Bethesda.

 

The funny thing is, if you do a Google search and you type in the words '+Scrolls +game", then the majority of the pages found will be about the Elder Scrolls, except for the most recent articles about the Notch game. Zenimax lawyers may argue that if you ask a bunch of gamers, who have never heard of the upcoming Notch title, to tell you the first thing that comes to their mind when you say the words 'scrolls' and ' computer game', they will mostly reply: "The Elder Scrolls". Sure, 'scrolls' is only a single word but it is unique enough in the gaming world - and this fact alone is enough for the lawyers to click into top gear.

 

 

[xaliqen]

Pretty soon, companies are going to have to start creating titles using new invented words because all of the old ones will be held up in legal red tape.

[bigbackpain]

Are the suing for other people using the words 'The' and 'Elder'?

[Kaldelar]

This might just be me and my circle of friends, but I've never heard TES referred to as "The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind/Oblivion/Skyrim". I've only heard Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim, so if I, being a "general consumer", would be asked about "scrolls", I'd probably not make the connection.