Pixelated
After making news for threatening legal action against Minecraft developer Mojang Specifications over their use of the word “Scrolls”, Bethesda Softworks is at it again. Taking it a step further, Bethesda has now launched a massive legal action against hundreds of named game publishers, developers and even individuals in the industry, claiming copyright use of the word “The”. [Note: As a news organization, we are exempt from this due to Fair Use laws]
The company revealed this information in a several-thousand page filing made in the Montgomery County Circuit Court in Maryland, citing that Bethesda had obtained exclusive copyrights for the phrase “The Elder Scrolls” and all parts therein when related to gaming. The suit named many of the defendants and the titles in question, which comprised the bulk of the document. Below is a small sampling of some of the entries.
Kalypso (Dungeons: The Dark Lord)
THQ (Avatar – The Last Airbender: The Burning Earth)
Turbine, Inc/Warner Bros Home Entertainment (The Lord of the Rings Online)
Electronic Arts (Army of Two: The 40th Day)
Virgin Interactive (The 7th Guest, The 11th Hour)
Atari (Alone in the Dark)
Majesco Games (Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, Attack of the Movies 3D)
Harmonix (The Beatles: Rock Band)
Ubisoft (Call of Juarez: The Cartel)
Bethesda also revealed in a press conference that they nearly sued themselves, not only as they accidentally spotted each of “The Elder Scrolls” titles listed, but also because of the very obvious “THE” in the center of their name. The image shows Bethesda’s supposed new logo for a rebranding campaign starting later this year.
http://pixelated.gkick.net/2011/09/bethesda-files-lawsuit-against-hundreds-of-publishers-claims-copyright-of-word-the/
(NOTE: This is a parody article written for Pixelated)
