Bethesda Suing Mojang In Trademark Dispute

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It appears that Notch and his team at Mojang have caught the attention of Bethesda, but not in a good kind of way. Bethesda’s in the process of bringing a lawsuit against the tiny indie company in a trademark dispute. If you’re racking your brain and trying to figure out how Minecraft infringes on one of Bethesda’s trademarks, don’t bother; this lawsuit actually has nothing to do with Minecraft.

Instead, Bethesda has a problem with Mojang’s other title, Scrolls, which was announced earlier this year and disappeared into the shadows shortly thereafter. It’s pretty obvious why Bethesda is taking issue with Scrolls (even if the lawsuit seems frivolous) and Notch says that he was contacted by Bethesda’s lawyers shortly after filing for the trademark for Scrolls. Notch explains that he tried to reach a compromise with them, but apparently whatever they talked about didn’t take, because Mojang was given notice today that Bethesda has filed papers and paid fees with Swedish courts as is now moving on with the lawsuit.

Notch writes on his blog that Bethesda doesn’t really have much of a case here, and chalks the lawsuit up to “lawyers being lawyers,” and trademark laws, which require a company to defend their trademarks or risk losing them. It’s entirely possible that Bethesda is only doing this so they can have more to reference if there’s ever an egregious infringement on their trademarks and they need to prove that they’ve attempted to defend them in the past.

Still, it’s also entirely possible that Bethesda’s lawyers are just a bunch of jerks and are completely serious about suing the pants off of Notch and Mojang. Whatever their motivation is, it should become clear in the coming weeks and months, so keep it tuned here to TFTS for more news on Bethesda’s lawsuit against Mojang.