The case between Mojang and developer/publisher Bethesda’s parent company ZeniMax Media has reached a definitive breaking point with Notch and Mojang being granted an injunction that allows continued use of the world ‘Scrolls’ for Mojang’s next game. Of course ZeniMax can still win in the end, but for now count this as a win for the Minecraft developer.
Starting out first as nothing – just a harmless letter that claimed that Scrolls might be confused with Skyrim – but then turning into a full-on court case, this situation escalated to a state most gamers weren’t expecting. And regardless of how Notch and Mojang felt they still stood by Bethesda as a developer they admire and looked at this issue as more of a “lawyer thing.”
While the case did seem a bit silly – ZeniMax claiming that The Elder Scrolls was the be-all-end-all use of the term ‘scrolls’ in video games – some thought that given Bethesda’s prominence, and Mojang’s small developer status, that Scrolls might have to be re-titled. Thankfully that is not the case.
Notch seems to be extremely overjoyed by this recent development, so much so that he has been all over Twitter with the news.
Details, so far, have been relatively slim surrounding Scrolls, aside from a first-look trailer and its classification as equal part CCG, board, and strategy title. In fact, we haven’t even seen enough of the game to understand why Scrolls was such an important title for the game, but clearly there’s something to it, and we’re glad that Mojang did not back down.
Now that this case is behind them, perhaps Mojang can remove a few more pieces off that shroud of secrecy surrounding Scrolls. It’s clearly a drastic change of pace for the Minecraft developer, but based on the success of the little indie that could, we are very excited for whatever Scrolls turns out to be.
Are you happy to hear that Mojang can still title their forthcoming game Scrolls, at least for now? Do you think that ZeniMax will continue with the case now that the injunction has been granted?
Source: Twitter
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I think notch should change the name anyway, I can see the problem with them using it. Notch = bad mojo
Yeah, he should rename it to “The Elder Cards”
I’m confused. I thought that the title claim was irrelevant in the big picture, and that the issue of trademark and rights was the one being addressed. You know, the bit where Mojang was trying to claim exclusive rights for any use of the word “Scrolls”. Anywhere in any title or name. In just about every product area known to man. Remember that part?
If Mojang decides to not let Bethesda use “scrolls” in the future, I will hurting peoplez.
Yeah, I don’t care if Mojang uses “Scrolls” in their board game. I just care if they get aggressive or use it in a game. I also want to see the jury’s point of view as to why Notch won (so far.)