Mojang offers to drop "Scrolls" trademark, Bethesda sues anyway.

Kotaku recently published an article analysing the legal battle that seems to be dragging on forever between Mojang and Bethesda over the trademark of the title “Scrolls”.

If you’re not clued up about what’s actually going on; here’s a quick, simplified overview:

Mojang: New game called Scrolls comin’ at ya!
Bethesda: Lol, no.
Mojang: Bu-
Bethesda: WE SUE YOU
Mojang: :<

Kotaku’s analysis claimed that the trademark applications sent in by Mojang were pretty broad – making anyone who uses the word “Scrolls” a potential target of legal action by Mojang.

Naturally, in this light, Bethesda would be put on the back foot, and their legal stance makes sense.

However, on his twitter and tumblr accounts, Minecraft creator, Markus “notch” Persson posted a response to the article – making it quite clear that Mojang had offered to drop their trademark application, and add a subtitle to the game title, to avoid being sued.

Bethesda refused and sued them anyway.

“Whatever reason they have for suing us, it’s not a fear of us having a trademark on the word “Scrolls”, as we’ve offered to give that up.” said Persson.

So why are Bethesda suing Mojang?

According to Persson’s tweets, “It’s about them not wanting us to use the word “Scrolls” in the title for our game. Not even in the form “Scrolls:[subtitle]”.

For shame.

Minecraft Update

In other news, if you don’t care about the corporate shark-tanks and their legal battles; the next Minecraft update is going be adding baby animals to its roster of creatures.