Big companies are regularly portrayed as archetype bully figures. They have the power and clout to make all beneath them tremble with fear at their demands. But just like David was to Goliath, independent game developer Markus ‘Notch’ Persson is standing up to Bethesda’s lawyers over the case of his next projects title.
On Twitter earlier this month Notch tweeted that he was being sued over the title of his next game, Scrolls, by developer behemoth Bethesda as his title sounded too similar to their franchise, Elder Scrolls.
At first this sounded like a late April Fools joke. Surely Bethesda couldn’t be serious? Taking an independent developer to court is never a good PR strategy but doing so because of a one-word title infringes on their multi-million selling game is just ludicrous - yet it happened.
Notch followed up his tweets by posting the first page and whole document set sent to him by Bethesda’s lawyer. He, as the rest of his 300,000 followers assumed it was a misunderstanding that would be tidied up with a pretty bow and everyone being happy.
Yet as August progressed, the case lost its funny side and it dawned that this was becoming a serious infringement case.
Unfortunately, Notch’s love for the Elder Scrolls and humour has landed him in a spot of bother. Having announced that Minecraft would be launched on the same day as Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, he hasn’t done himself any favours.
But the real issue that I take up with this case is Bethesda’s apparently hell bent mission to make the word ‘Scrolls’ their exclusive intellectual property. I know that game developers have piles of cash so vast that even Scrooge McDuck would struggle swimming through one length of their capital, but at what point can a company claim a word that has existed for hundreds of years to be exclusively theirs?
Does this mean that the Dead Sea Scrolls will be forced by lawyers to change their official title to Dead Sea Scribblings? Will the act scrolling on computers have to change its description to dawdling, shifting, pissing-about-till-I-found-what-I-want?
Does this mean that a single word will instantly cause fans of Elder Scrolls to run around like headless chickens with an adrenaline shot to the heart ala Pulp Fiction style when the subject of the fantasy card game is brought up in general conversation? No, and do you know why, because despite what many media outlets tend to say, gamers on the most part think before they talk. They know the products available to them on the market and have the great gift of cognitive thinking to differentiate between two titles. When Star Wars came out, were Star Trek fans having shit fits because this new sci-fi film sounded all too like their beloved television show? NO! The fans had enough brain cells to rub together to notice that the two titles didn’t mean the same thing.
Are Bethesda so naïve to believe that gamers will get so easily confused? From my experience of Elder Scrolls games, no one ever refers to the games as Elder Scrolls: Insert Title Here. It’s always a case of “Oh hey, have you played Oblivion?” or “Man, Morrowind is a bad ass game yo!”
The ‘Elder Scrolls’ title is just a foreword to the games title.
If Bethesda seriously pursues this case, woe betide their arses. They will be messing with a small independent studio behind Minecraft, the phenomenal hit game that the current gaming generation needs so badly who have created one of just a small handful of independent games that has succeeded in selling over 3 million units and with 10 million registered players on their books. Not only does Minecraft have the fanbase and worldwide awards of independent success behind them but they are also the little guy not giving up the lunch money to the big kids.
What would happen if Bethesda pursued this case to the bitter end, what would that mean for the English language or words in general?
Could hit Japanese developers Atlus Persona Team make the name Catherine their IP meaning that all children bestowed with that name could be confusing doctors, teachers and the general population by misleading them into thinking she is something to do with the game?
Would Master Chef have to change its name because it sounds dangerously similar to the Halo franchises protagonist Master Chief? Would police authorities have to rename the crime of Grand Theft Auto because Rockstar decide they don’t like the idea of the illegal action giving their hit series a bad rep? (as if it could get any worse in the eyes of most non-gamers and parents worldwide)
NO! NONONONONO!!!
Those situations wouldn’t happen because all other developers seem to be aware that the English language has spent a millennia evolving, refining and growing and as such, all the words in the English language are free for all to use in whatever form they wish.
If Mojang were calling their next title Old Scrolls: Rimjob, then yes, I’m pretty sure Bethesda would have a right to slap a cease and desist order on Notch’s trademark trilby so he looks like a 1950’s reporter. But alas, that isn’t the case. The big company is scared that a single word title will steal all of their hardcore following because they are unable to differentiate between two completely different games because of some cursed, sophisticated method of communication that is more of a hindrance than a blessing.
On a side note, Notch’s idea to challenge Bethesda to a game of Quake 3 to decide who wins the case is a work of genius. While it could easily be conceived as immature, childish and an all round dick move, it presents a sense of humour into current events and gives Bethesda a chance to make a PR move that won’t see them dressed up with a top hat, cloak, monocle, twisty moustache and evil laughter. It’s an especially fortunate offer considering they have several professional Quake 3 players in their employ. C’mon Bethesda, we all love your games, but quit the petty squabble, show some heart!
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