Okay Geek Farm
Minecraft creator challenges Bethesda to Quake 3 match to settle lawsuit
Ricardo Trejo
Markus Perssun, otherwise known to many as ‘Notch’, the creator of Minecraft, has been going back and forth between famous RPG developer Bethesda over the name of his studio’s next game, Scrolls. So what’s the beef? Well, Bethesda believes that he’s encroaching on their series Elder Scrolls by using the word “scrolls”, and have so since moved forward with legal action. Umm, yeah… So Notch, being the clever and reasonable guy he is, said he’d more than happily change the name of his game IF they can beat him and his team at a game of Quake 3.
The official story from Notch himself goes a little something like this:
” […] out of the blue, we got contacted by Bethesda’s lawyers. They wanted to know more about the “Scrolls” trademark we were applying for, and claimed it conflicted with their existing trademark “The Elder Scrolls”. I agree that the word “Scrolls” is part of that trademark, but as a gamer, I have never ever considered that series of (very good) role playing games to be about scrolls in any way, nor was that ever the focal point of neither their marketing nor the public image.
The implication that you could own the right to all individual words within a trademark is also a bit scary. We looked things up and realized they didn’t have much of a case, but we still took it seriously. 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.”
Pretty ridiculous stuff, especially coming from such a prestigious gaming studio, right? Who knew they’d be so stuck up over a common word that isn’t even an original term, nor even important to the game’s story or concept.
And so in response, Perssun is challenging the Bethesda team to pick their 3 finest Quake 3 players to battle for the fate of legality on the issue.
“I challenge Bethesda to a game of Quake 3. Three of our best warriors against three of your best warriors. We select one level, you select the other, we randomize the order. 20 minute matches, highest total frag count per team across both levels wins.
If we win, you drop the lawsuit.
If you win, we will change the name of Scrolls to something you’re fine with.
Regardless of the outcome, we could still have a small text somewhere saying our game is not related to your game series in any way, if you wish.
I am serious, by the way.”
Could this be the first legal battle thwarted by the play of an online game? The ball’s in Bethesda’s court, so to speak.
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