The plot continues to thicken with the trademark suit Bethesda Softworks filed against Mojang a few month ago over potential confusion that might arise for consumers over the similarities between the former’s Elder Scrolls series and the latter’s upcoming virtual card game, Scrolls. Mojang founder and Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson has been very outspoken about the situation so far, but Bethesda has kept quiet. Until now.
Company vice president Pete Hines finally broke the silence (via Kotaku), injecting a little bit of a reality check into a situation which, on the PR front at least, has been handled very glibly by Persson. “This is a business matter based on how trademark law works and it will continue to be dealt with by lawyers who understand it, not by me or our developers.”
You really can’t get much more straightforward than that. Hines is right on the money too. Legal issues like this one are often colored in shades of grey that really just need to be sorted out by legal minds. This lawsuit doesn’t make much sense when you think about it rationally, but legal situations aren’t always rational.
“Nobody here enjoys being forced into this,” Hines added. “Hopefully it will all be resolved soon.”
