Home Gaming Bethesda’s lawyers are overzealously protecting trademarks again

Bethesda’s lawyers are overzealously protecting trademarks again

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Fortressfalllout

Remember when Zenimax – Bethesda’s parent company – had its lawyers send a cease and desist to Mojang over its card-battling strategy game, Scrolls. Despite not being remotely related games, Zenimax’s sharks argued that Scrolls infringed on their trademark for “The Elder Scrolls” and would lead to consumer confusion, because people who play games are apparently idiots. Mojang had the money to fight it all, of course, and ended u settling over the name. Those lawyers are at it again.

They’re trying to put the kibosh on a new little indie being made by a team including YouTube personality CaptainSparklez, known to his mum as Jordan Maron. His game, a free-to-play 2D mobile effort with cartoonish graphics is called Fortress Fallout, and Bethesda’s lawyers reckon that consumers will confuse it with their now first person post-apocalyptic survival RPG. They’ve sent a trademark dispute – and because Maron isn’t rolling in Mojang money, it means that Bethesda’s lawyers have won, and Fortress Fallout will have to find a new name.

Speaking in a video, Maron expressed his displeasure at what he though was corporate strong-arming and bullying.

“Our lawyers said that Bethesda is a notoriously litigious company,” Maron said in the video. “Obviously they have lots of money and resources at their disposal which we don’t really have at the moment. So essentially we are being strong-armed into having to change our name, which is unfortunate because I personally don’t see how there is any confusion between Fortress Fallout and the Fallout games.”

He likened Bethesda’s tactics to patent trolling, joking that he should call the game “The” and reciprocate the action against any game bearing the definite article.

“Congratulations, Bethesda,” Maron said in the video, clapping his hands briefly. “You won. You beat us. You exercised your might, showed us who’s boss. We’ll make sure that people do not think our game is part of the Fallout franchise. Wasn’t our goal from the start. So…yeah. Well, we’ll change it.”

Here’s that letter:

zenimax

What do you think? Should Maron and co be allowed to call their game Fortress Fallout? By wanting to still have “Fortress” in the title, are they set for litigation from Valve? Have any other names you’d suggest?

Last Updated: February 17, 2015

102 Comments

  1. Ray Watson

    February 17, 2015 at 10:38

    Maybe one day they will sue me for using the name Ray …. *Looks at Rayman creators*

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      February 17, 2015 at 10:45

      MC Hammer just pulled up outside my office O_o

      Reply

      • Dutch Matrix

        February 17, 2015 at 10:54

        In that case, I guess Arnold Schwarzenegger will drop by twice at my offices today! WIN!!!!

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          February 17, 2015 at 10:55

          😀

          Reply

        • Tosh "Did he just say that?"

          February 17, 2015 at 10:58

          You have an unfortunate surname.

          Reply

          • Dutch Matrix

            February 17, 2015 at 11:01

            Yeah??? Well, at least I am not going through (online) life with a name like Tosh!!!!

          • Tosh "Did he just say that?"

            February 17, 2015 at 11:02

            Peter Tosh was legendary man. That’s how I got the nickname.

            http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Tosh

          • Blood Emperor Trevor

            February 17, 2015 at 11:06

            And here we all thought it’s because you talk a lot of it. ;P

          • Tosh "Did he just say that?"

            February 17, 2015 at 11:07

            At least I’m not permanently on my period, right Mr “Blood Emperor”?

          • Admiral Chief

            February 17, 2015 at 11:07

            LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

          • Blood Emperor Trevor

            February 17, 2015 at 11:07

            Wrong gender…

          • Captain JJ the crafter

            February 17, 2015 at 11:40

            Doesn’t matter with you. We all know it.

          • Dutch Matrix

            February 17, 2015 at 11:08

            Crappy singer. My opinion of course. If you wanted to to go for Legendary Singer, should have gone with David Kramer… *Runs* No wait. I run from no one! Unless it is to GET TO THE CHOPPA!

          • Admiral Chief

            February 17, 2015 at 11:09

            CHOPPA!

          • Pieter Kruger

            February 17, 2015 at 11:09

            So not this guy then……

          • Tosh "Did he just say that?"

            February 17, 2015 at 11:10

            O_O Dafuq?

  2. Pieter Kruger

    February 17, 2015 at 10:39

    I’m going to patent the following and screw up the whole industry:
    “1080p”
    “60fps”
    “exclusive”
    “timed exclusive”
    “console exclusive”
    ????????????????

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      February 17, 2015 at 10:45

      You left out “180”,”30fps”,”900p”,”XBOX 720″ and “Ultimate price cuts”

      Reply

      • Pieter Kruger

        February 17, 2015 at 10:48

        Nah, I want to screw up the whole industry, not just mess with 20% of all gamers responsible for 80% of all the forum clutter……..????

        Reply

        • Blood Emperor Trevor

          February 17, 2015 at 10:50

          Xbox One gamers are empty vessels? O_o

          Reply

    • Weanerdog

      February 17, 2015 at 11:13

      I am going to trademark DLC and patch

      Reply

    • Raptor Rants A Lot:Original #7

      February 17, 2015 at 12:13

      You’ll be told you can’t patent single words

      Reply

      • Errol The Terrible

        February 17, 2015 at 15:15

        But you can trademark single words. IE Bluetooth…

        Reply

        • Raptor Rants A Lot:Original #7

          February 17, 2015 at 15:38

          Indeed that you can

          Reply

  3. Jac7

    February 17, 2015 at 10:44

    The best way for them to troll Bethesda would be to scale a tree right outside of Bethesda’s offices and fling their own crap at the employees as they leave the building. Because being a bunch of tree-climbing crap flingers is still not nearly as childish as what Bethesda did.

    Reply

  4. Blood Emperor Trevor

    February 17, 2015 at 10:44

    Scrolls was silly, this is a bit less so – because when someone mentions the word “fallout” in terms of games the default assumption will be Fallout. So I can see their point on this one, even though it’s clear when seeing them that there’s no similarity between the titles.

    Reply

    • Weanerdog

      February 17, 2015 at 11:12

      Agree with Trevor on this one. Fallout fortress sounds like a fallout game.

      Reply

      • Tosh "Did he just say that?"

        February 17, 2015 at 11:14

        But it’s not Fallout Fortress. It was Fortress Fallout. Sounds closer to Team Fortress to me. Didn’t see Valve suing.

        Reply

        • Weanerdog

          February 17, 2015 at 11:29

          The biggest problem with trademarks is that if you don’t defend them then in the future that can be used against you if some one does infringe. The problem is that to determine whether or not you actually are infringing cost a lot of money.

          Reply

          • Tosh "Did he just say that?"

            February 17, 2015 at 11:31

            OR you could be cool like the guys who acquired Homeworld, and let other devs actually use the name. You know.

          • Captain JJ the crafter

            February 17, 2015 at 11:32

            Strange how Homefront wasn’t sued. ;P

          • Raptor Rants A Lot:Original #7

            February 17, 2015 at 12:01

            No, this isn’t ok. This cannot be seen as not protecting the trademark. All Fallout games start with the word fallout.

            This game which states “Fortress fallout” doesn’t sound apocolyptic. It doesn’t make one think of Nuclear fallout. It makes one think of Castle style warfare.

            It seems a bit of a stretch to say they are protecting their copyright here

          • Raptor Rants A Lot:Original #7

            February 17, 2015 at 12:05

            No, this isn’t ok. This cannot be seen as not protecting the trademark. All Fallout games start with the word fallout.

            This game which states “Fortress fallout” doesn’t sound apocolyptic. It doesn’t make one think of Nuclear fallout. It makes one think of Castle style warfare.

            It seems a bit of a stretch to say they are protecting their copyright here

          • Raptor Rants A Lot:Original #7

            February 17, 2015 at 12:05

            Darnit stupid internet issues! Sorry for double post!

          • Admiral Chief

            February 17, 2015 at 12:13

            7 minutes ago…

          • Weanerdog

            February 17, 2015 at 16:02

            At least it wasn’t repeated another 5 times.

          • Raptor Rants A Lot:Original #7

            February 18, 2015 at 09:19

            #Glares

          • Captain JJ the crafter

            February 17, 2015 at 12:23

            I agree with you 100%.

          • Weanerdog

            February 17, 2015 at 16:01

            Are you suggesting that they are wasting money to make some small fry developer change the name of some little game because they want to bully someone, the only reason they would spend the money is if it is worth something to them. They want to protect their trademarks because they feel that it makes them and there stockholders money. That is their right and yes I agree that in this circumstance it seems very heavy handed but the concept of a “fallout” game belongs to them.

          • Raptor Rants A Lot:Original #7

            February 18, 2015 at 09:21

            I hear what you are saying but I still feel it’s unfair and not really protecting anything. It’s literally a company throwing its weight around to destroy the hopes and dreams and hopeful future gaming powerhouses.

            All these indies that pop up, some of them could really turn out big. They could be the next Bethesda or EA. But these big corporates know this and will do anything to stop the indie uprising. The sad thing? All these places like Bethesda technically started out just like any other indie would

        • Captain JJ the crafter

          February 17, 2015 at 11:31

          I agree.
          Fallout is a normal word. It wasn’t used by Bethesda for the first time in history. So although they won this case it’s only because of money that they did.
          Doesn’t make them any smarter.

          Reply

      • RinceThis

        February 17, 2015 at 11:32

        Never agree with him!

        Reply

        • Weanerdog

          February 17, 2015 at 11:57

          Stop telling me what to do dad!

          Reply

    • Draco Lusus

      February 17, 2015 at 11:12

      If any human is stupid enough to buy a game, on the assumption that it is linked to fallout, without reading the description of the game / viewing a screenshot of it…well then that is their issue. I don’t see how this affects them in anyway.

      Reply

    • Captain JJ the crafter

      February 17, 2015 at 11:26

      Nah. I disagree.
      Then Fall Out Boy (the band) should be seen as related to Vault Boy from Fallout.
      This is just nitpicking on Bethesda’s side.

      Reply

      • Blood Emperor Trevor

        February 17, 2015 at 11:49

        You disagree that I can see their point of view? O_O What are you doing inside my head?

        Reply

        • Captain JJ the crafter

          February 17, 2015 at 12:07

          I just didn’t think you’re capable of being that considerate to even consider looking from someone else’s point of view. 😉

          Reply

          • Blood Emperor Trevor

            February 17, 2015 at 13:08

            lol – but if I wasn’t I wouldn’t know what buttons to press 😉

  5. Galbedir

    February 17, 2015 at 10:46

    Soon games wont be able to use the words ‘The’ and ‘of’, and will have to resort to games being named as Barcodes. ‘Dude! You as excited as I am for Game #49038294!?” “Hell yeah!”

    Reply

    • Ray Watson

      February 17, 2015 at 12:21

      Until I patent the numbers individually …. You are screwed again ….

      Reply

  6. A 2 EL POLLO DIABLO?

    February 17, 2015 at 10:47

    Fight the evil corporate overlords! Carry on developing the game with that name, have Bethe$da take these guys to court and lose, with costs, because they are acting like giant %)(#^!!

    Reply

    • Raptor Rants A Lot:Original #7

      February 17, 2015 at 12:27

      The problem is you need the funds to defend yourself in court to start with

      Reply

      • Captain JJ the crafter

        February 17, 2015 at 12:34

        Exactly. Otherwise this would’ve been a no-brainer. But an expensive lawyer can convince a judge that his socks are in fact fish, and he would believe them.

        Reply

  7. Hammersteyn

    February 17, 2015 at 10:50

    Name it Zeni Fortress Maximum Outfall

    Reply

  8. Viking Of Science

    February 17, 2015 at 10:54

    Call it Fallout Of Scrolls in a Fortress

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief

      February 17, 2015 at 11:06

      Fus Ro Fallout

      Reply

  9. Loftus

    February 17, 2015 at 10:55

    i speak a bit of lawyer. cease and desist translated : kaacchhinnGGG $$$$

    That letter cost Bethesda a lot of money (money we’ll have to fork out for their next game or their announcement at E3) and the only thing they and their lawyers did was to make people aware of free to play game.

    Reply

    • HvR

      February 17, 2015 at 11:12

      So they should go another few rounds and really piss off ZeniMax, change it every time an expensive lawyer letter arrives:
      Fortress Elder
      Fortress Scrolls
      Fortress Wolfenstein
      Fortress Doom
      Fortress Quake

      Reply

      • Captain JJ the crafter

        February 17, 2015 at 11:28

        Nah, you can’t use fortress either. Because there’s Team Fortress.
        Oh wait, Valve aren’t complete assholes, so they won’t sue you for using a normal word in your game name.

        Reply

      • Tosh "Did he just say that?"

        February 17, 2015 at 11:29

        Quake Fortress and the Fallout of Doom.

        Reply

      • Raptor Rants A Lot:Original #7

        February 17, 2015 at 12:05

        Fortress Blood and moon
        Fortress Horsearmor
        Fortress born of the dragon

        Reply

    • Weanerdog

      February 17, 2015 at 11:14

      Probably on retainer, need to show that they are worth it.

      Reply

      • Loftus

        February 17, 2015 at 11:19

        lawyer speak for retainer : we screw you over long period of time for continual pay (making you believe this is the cheaper option)

        Reply

  10. Tosh "Did he just say that?"

    February 17, 2015 at 10:56

    That’s it, I’m never buying another Bethesda game EVER! Because screw those bullies!

    Reply

    • Viking Of Science

      February 17, 2015 at 10:57

      right, We’ll check back when they release DOOM, Dishonored 2 or Fallout 4….

      Reply

  11. HvR

    February 17, 2015 at 10:56

    Fortress FUYBO

    FUYBO – Fall Up Yours Bethesda Out

    Reply

  12. HvR

    February 17, 2015 at 10:58

    Ironically this is probably the best thing that could happen to them, foresee a lot of sympathy/interest downloads.

    Reply

  13. PestControl

    February 17, 2015 at 10:58

    I’d just change the name to something very similar… Fortress Fall-in would be my suggestion. That way it’s obviously not “Fallout”, yet close enough to the original name while still also pointing out the fact that Bethesda was really silly in forcing them to change the game’s name.

    Reply

  14. Pieter Kruger

    February 17, 2015 at 10:59

    I’m sure there’s someone out there that can actually take Bethesda to court for calling themselves “Bethesda”?

    Reply

  15. Dutch Matrix

    February 17, 2015 at 11:05

    I kind of hope to read a headline along these uhm Lines… when Bethesda releases Doom…

    “South African company sues well known game publisher over copyright infringements. And Wins!”

    http://www.makro.co.za/Images/Products/Large/MIN_263713_EAA.jpg

    Reply

    • Captain JJ the crafter

      February 17, 2015 at 11:35

      If they do it will make my day. Serves Bethesda right.

      Reply

  16. Travis

    February 17, 2015 at 11:05

    I am happy about this, It looks like Bethesda still care about Fallout. That the main thhing I take from this article. Stupid 2d mobile crap I say crush them Bethesda lol.

    Reply

    • Dutch Matrix

      February 17, 2015 at 11:06

      Oh Bethesda cares allright. About the mighty dollar lining their pockets.

      Reply

      • Travis

        February 17, 2015 at 11:07

        And thats the way it should be. If your a business and you dont want to make dollars, then these something wrong. And you are only make dollars if you are pleasing a lot of people.

        Reply

        • Dutch Matrix

          February 17, 2015 at 11:11

          Oh come on. Anybody with a peanut sized brain would realize that one game is not the other. Wait. I got it. Seeing as we are having a “fallout” over this, can I expect a cease and desist letter from Bethesda now too?

          Reply

          • Travis

            February 17, 2015 at 11:14

            I agree the games are totally different and Bethesda is wasting their time really, as I said I am just glad they took notice, cause the news on Fallout has been pretty thin over they years.

          • Tosh "Did he just say that?"

            February 17, 2015 at 11:15

            It’s going to stay thin. Just because they’re suing over a name, doesn’t mean they plan to make a new game. Just means they’re “protecting” their current ones.

          • Travis

            February 17, 2015 at 11:17

            I know it doesnt mean they plan to make a new game. But I think its almost time isnt it. The fans want it and sure it could be very profitable for them. So why not?

          • Tosh "Did he just say that?"

            February 17, 2015 at 11:20

            Because it’s only the fans who’d want it. The money is in mainstream, not the cult following. And no, Fallout is one game I will never own because it holds no interest for me.

            Still, they will probably focus more on their MMO now (which could potentially bring in sustainable income) and maybe the next Elder Scrolls. Or Doom. All of which I think have a more mainstream appeal and more earning potential than Fallout.

          • Travis

            February 17, 2015 at 11:24

            Hmmm, I think Fallout is fairly mainstream enough, It sold loads. MMO is that ESO Looks like they have given up on that now with it going free to play, or is there another MMO i dont know about. Im sure they could make loads on a new Fallout game.

          • Tosh "Did he just say that?"

            February 17, 2015 at 11:27

            F2P means more money. Look at Star Wars: The Old Republic. As a subscription MMO it failed, but it’s still going strong thanks to its F2P nature. F2P games earn more than subscription or once-off games by far. Fallout doesn’t stand a chance.

          • Travis

            February 17, 2015 at 11:31

            I played eso for 7 months. I was probably the only person on this forum that liked the game, and even I got bored around October last year and trust me the amount of people playing at that time was vastly lower than in the early months. I really believe they have given up. They wont make a lot of money from now, the name is tainted. I do agree on your comment though that if done right FTP can generate cash, but its too late for ESO, which is a pitty casue I for one think the criticism was well overdone.

          • Tosh "Did he just say that?"

            February 17, 2015 at 11:32

            What you’re saying now has already been said about SW:TOR. And here we are, years later and another content pack being added.

          • Travis

            February 17, 2015 at 11:34

            I guess we will just have to wait and see, my money is still on it fading into “Oblivion”

          • Tosh "Did he just say that?"

            February 17, 2015 at 11:35

            Careful, the ‘fallout’ of your comments might be felt with the sting of a cease and desist letter. You never know. Soon they’ll ban the use of words in every day speech.

          • Travis

            February 17, 2015 at 11:37

            lol

          • Captain JJ the crafter

            February 17, 2015 at 11:37

            The US better change the names of their fallout bunkers to safe-from-nuclear-explosions bunkers. Just now they get sued by Bethesda because people will go there expecting a Fallout game handout.

  17. Captain JJ the crafter

    February 17, 2015 at 11:24

    Bethesda is seriously spiraling down.
    This is stupid. Screw em.
    You have to be an idiot to confuse those two games, which maybe the people at Bethesda are.
    I mean, they did make Elder Scrolls Online after all, thinking it was a good idea.

    Reply

  18. Raptor Rants A Lot:Original #7

    February 17, 2015 at 11:59

    You know, this kind of strongarming makes me think twice about supporting Bethesda anymore. I really dig their Elder Scrolls games and Fallout I guess wasn’t too shabby a set of games.

    But this? This is just not on. They cannot own the right to single words. It just doesn’t sit right with me.

    What would it take from the consumer’s side to make Bethesda realise that they cannot do this?

    Reply

    • Captain JJ the crafter

      February 17, 2015 at 12:06

      As much as I agree with you on this, sadly they just have the power and there is no way that consumers will stop supporting them for strong-arming others.
      A lot of people are very anti-indie and will support these big companies blindly.

      Reply

      • Raptor Rants A Lot:Original #7

        February 17, 2015 at 12:21

        It’s sick really.

        Reply

        • Captain JJ the crafter

          February 17, 2015 at 12:33

          It is. I’ve lost a lot of respect for Bathesda, they used to be one of my favourites. This is just adding to it now.

          Reply

  19. Raptor Rants A Lot:Original #7

    February 17, 2015 at 12:05

    You know, this kind of strongarming makes me think twice about supporting Bethesda anymore. I really dig their Elder Scrolls games and Fallout I guess wasn’t too shabby a set of games.

    But this? This is just not on. They cannot own the right to single words. It just doesn’t sit right with me.

    What would it take from the consumer’s side to make Bethesda realise that they cannot do this?

    Reply

  20. Wardonkey

    February 17, 2015 at 14:07

    BE THE Side-effect Development Acropolis……….

    Reply

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