Fri, Aug 05, 2011 | 21:55 BST
Notch receives letter from Bethesda’s legal department over Scrolls trademark
Minecraft creator Notch, who’s studio Mojang is currently working on a digital trading card game called Scrolls, has received a letter from Betheda’s legal department stating that the name ‘Scrolls’ is in violation of its Elder Scrolls trademark.
The letter claims the name could confuse consumers into thinking Notch’s game is Skyrim.
According to Notch’s tweet: “Just got a letter from Bethesta’s lawyers. They claim “Scrolls” infringes on their trademark and everyone will confuse it with Skyrim.”
Notch goes on to say he still likes Bethesda, as it’s just “lawyers being lawyers,” and posted a twitter pic of the legal document.
Likely this is just the firm’s legal department doing its job until more investigation is done on the matter, and could just peter out. You can get the full story over on Notch’s Tumblr.
Thanks, RPS.
16 
Posted in: Development, Legalities
Tags: Mojang, notch, Scrolls
16 comments
#1
UKTomm
05/08/11, 5:02 pm
I laughed when I heard about this.
#2
Erthazus
05/08/11, 5:10 pm
this is stupid.
Scrolls are not THE ELDER SCROLLS.
Bethesda can STFU with their latest consolized piece of crappy roleplaying games for children.
Official the elder Scrolls logo: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fe/ElderScrolls_Logo.png
#3
Telepathic.Geometry
05/08/11, 5:17 pm
Is Skyward Sword out too?
And taking this semi-seriously for a moment, if this case is legitimate, how about Dark Souls, a game which is virtually identical to Demon’s Souls in every conceivable way. How could Sony not press charges?
#4
Erthazus
05/08/11, 5:22 pm
Someone need to tradermark “Black Marsh”, so that Bethesda could not use it for the next Elder Scrolls game which is going to be set there. He-he…
#5
Stardog
05/08/11, 5:27 pm
This ruins my game The Elder’s Roles.
#6
DSB
05/08/11, 5:33 pm
I guess Bethesda is the new Tim Langdell.
@3 Probably because they’re not stupid enough to think they own everything with “Souls” attached to the back of it.
Unless someone is deliberately sabotaging your products, it’s not worth the time, money and bad press. This is what you call a self-inflicted wound.
#7
Telepathic.Geometry
05/08/11, 5:35 pm
And my game The Elders’ Cur Rolls. :/
#8
minecraftloverus
05/08/11, 6:04 pm
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#9
fantomena
05/08/11, 6:12 pm
Oh no! Then I need to rename or cancell my game The Eldres Scolls.
#10
The_Red
05/08/11, 7:16 pm
@6
Hey, it is a Langdell like move. Good call.
#11
HauntaVirus
05/08/11, 8:47 pm
Notch should send the letter back and tell them to shove it. Bethesda doesn’t own the word “Scrolls”. They own “The Elder Scrolls”
#12
marijnlems
05/08/11, 10:59 pm
#3 & #6 I don’t know whether or not you guys are joking, but Dark Souls is being made by the same studio (From Software) as Demon’s Souls. Sony doesn’t own the IP, From Software does. And they’re hardly going to sue themselves.
#13
bpcgos
05/08/11, 11:38 pm
this patent problem are being ridicoulos nowaday! how could be the word scrolls being patented?
#14
Noodlemanny
06/08/11, 12:44 am
You do realise Notch also got a letter from Valve that said more stuff about copy right bull. Apparently they were quite angry like. It’s not that any particular dev is bad or worse cos their all bad, it’s just lawyers being lawyers.
#15
DSB
06/08/11, 1:26 am
@14 How did that happen? I can’t really think of one thing about Minecraft that could possibly be tied to Valve, except for the fact that they offered to buy the shop.
There’s no doubt that lawyers have a mind of their own, and there’s no doubt that they often go over the top, but that’s a sick culture in and of itself, and these companies are still fully responsible for the actions of their legal departments.
Nobody forces anyone to sic lawyers on everyone, that’s simply a matter of policy, or lack of same. Certainly in recent years, it’s proven far more effective to consider your public image before your trademarks. Rights are important, but there are better ways to protect them, than simply nuking every threat you see.
#16
viralshag
06/08/11, 1:32 am
@15, From what I have seen, in my company at least, lawyers really DO have a mind of their own. The problem usually is that lawyers and pretty much everyone else look at things completely differently.
They look at the black and white of business in the legal sense and that seems to be about it. Whereas other people would often look for a way around it or a way to work to resolve problems.
Bottom line: lawyers are a pain in the arse. Sorry lawyers.