Notch Comes Up With New Plan To Settle Trademark Dispute: Quake 3 Battle

from the ah,-if-only-all-legal-disputes-were-handled-this-way dept

Wed, Aug 17th 2011 3:10pm — Mike Masnick

We noted recently the ridiculous trademark lawsuit filed by game company Bethesda against Markus Persson's company Mojang. Of course, Persson is better known as Notch, and Mojang is better known for creating Minecraft. Mojang is working on a new game called Scrolls and Bethesda is suing because it holds the trademark on Elder Scrolls, for its series of games. As we noted in the original post, the really amazing thing about Notch was how reasonable he had been throughout the whole thing, even talking up how much he liked Bethesda, and hoping this was just some lawyers over reacting.

Well, now he's decided to offer an "alternative settlement" technique. Rather than, say, trying arbitration or mediation, Notch is offering to settle this over a Quake 3 match. Seriously:

Remember that scene in Game of Thrones where Tyrion chose a trial by battle in the Eyrie? Well, let�s do that instead!

I challenge Bethesda to a game of Quake 3. Three of our best warriors against three of your best warriors. We select one level, you select the other, we randomize the order. 20 minute matches, highest total frag count per team across both levels wins.

If we win, you drop the lawsuit.

If you win, we will change the name of Scrolls to something you�re fine with.

Now wouldn't that be fun?

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Filed Under: elder scrolls, markus persson, minecraft, notch, quake, scrolls, trademark
Companies: bethesda, mojang

51 Comments

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crade (profile), 17 Aug 2011 @ 2:57pm

This post made my day!
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:Lobo Santo (profile), 17 Aug 2011 @ 3:13pm

Plus...
Put it on youtube or pay-per-view (perhaps both?), I'd watch it and cheer on my favorite team!!
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I-Blz, 17 Aug 2011 @ 3:17pm

It's official
Notch is a bowler-hat wearing badass of awesometude.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Aug 2011 @ 3:20pm

Dear Mike, fun is not the correct word, Epic would be it.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Aug 2011 @ 3:25pm

This will leave people out?
And how exactly will the lawyers get paid? They have families to feed and no time for these games.
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:Lobo Santo (profile), 17 Aug 2011 @ 3:28pm

Re: This will leave people out?
I pretty sure they can bill for this under "Representation during arbitration" they just need some lawyers who are good at Quake 3.

;-P
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Jake, 17 Aug 2011 @ 3:32pm

I'm not a big fan of Notch, as something about the fact that he appropriated several of Minecraft's core concepts from a freeware game called Dwarf Fortress, remixed them into something with a quarter of the depth and complexity and then acquired staggering amounts of fame and money from it strikes me deeply and profoundly unfair somehow. But I have to give him credit, this has a certain amount of style.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Aug 2011 @ 3:33pm

Does Notch totally remind anyone else of XKCD hat dude right now?
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ricebowl (profile), 17 Aug 2011 @ 3:35pm

I wonder...
Perhaps Bethesda could get Jonathan Wendel on a crash course through the Thomas M. Cooley Law School in order to secure victory?

Though I'd certainly hope against that being possible.
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Donnicton, 17 Aug 2011 @ 3:35pm

Re:
Oh, I had to come back into focus there for a sec. For a second I drifted off and thought you were talking about Blizzard Entertainment, for some reason.
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Makoto (profile), 17 Aug 2011 @ 3:36pm

Take the Offer!
Leave it to Notch to offer a solution as simple as a game of Quake 3 to resolve a major copyright issue.

I'm hoping they actually agree to it, too. It'd just be...interesting.
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Rabbit80, 17 Aug 2011 @ 3:39pm

If only..
How I wish that the smartphone patent lawsuits could all be settled this way! (With live streaming so we could watch the bttles)
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Aug 2011 @ 3:39pm

Re: Re: This will leave people out?
They can probably find some recent grads from Cooley Law School that are unemployed and may be good at Quake 3.
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Rikuo (profile), 17 Aug 2011 @ 3:48pm

Re:
What exactly is wrong with "appropriating core concepts"? Is it wrong for FPS games to "appropriate" the concept of dual wield weapons? How is it unfair for Minecraft, a game made by basically the one guy, to make a staggering amount of fame and money? I applaud the dude, he's a true entrepreneur. He saw a market, made a game, marketed it the correct way, didn't care about piracy and has reaped the rewards.
Just in case you claim I'm a Minecraft fanboy, I'm not. I've never played it, and most likely never will. I don't like the game myself. But to say its unfair for an indie game to be successful...
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colony (profile), 17 Aug 2011 @ 3:52pm

everything should be settled like this
i'd pay good money to see the RIAA lot fragged by a rocket jump/gauntlet to the face combo like. that really would make my life complete.
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Qyiet (profile), 17 Aug 2011 @ 3:59pm

Re: everything should be settled like this
i'd pay good money to see the RIAA lot fragged by a rocket jump/gauntlet to the face combo like. that really would make my life complete.You are talking about ingame right?
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Rabbit80, 17 Aug 2011 @ 4:09pm

Re: everything should be settled like this
New business model for them? First to frag - if they win, you pay for the track, if you win you get it free!
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colony (profile), 17 Aug 2011 @ 4:12pm

Re: Re: everything should be settled like this
i don't think i could manage a rocket jump in real life without killing myself. it's unfortunate because it'd be a great way to get about town.
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E. Zachary Knight (profile), 17 Aug 2011 @ 4:46pm

Re:
Not at all. The XKCD guy wears a fedora while Notch wears a bowler.
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Anonymoose Custard, 17 Aug 2011 @ 4:51pm

If only...
If only all disputes could be settled this way.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Aug 2011 @ 4:53pm

Whatever may come of the lawsuit itself, Notch is destroying Bethesda in the PR battle. They'd better have some kind of response!
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senshikaze (profile), 17 Aug 2011 @ 4:59pm

Re:
dwarf fortress, while great, is still a pretty hard game to get into. I salute Notch for being a cool dude, regardless of where his ideas come from.
If you read enough posts here at techdirt, you should know we firmly believe that the remix is sacred, and is not unfair in anyway.
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Angelito, 17 Aug 2011 @ 5:01pm

Re: Take the Offer!
Wasn't Trademark?
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senshikaze (profile), 17 Aug 2011 @ 5:01pm

Re: Take the Offer!
s/copyright/trademark/

TFTFY
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NotMyRealName (profile), 17 Aug 2011 @ 5:02pm

they should ppv it. talk about selling the scarce...
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Chargone (profile), 17 Aug 2011 @ 5:47pm

Re: Re: everything should be settled like this
....

somehow, i think that would cheapen the effect :P
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Eugene (profile), 17 Aug 2011 @ 6:03pm

Re: Re: This will leave people out?
Or they could jump into the game in spectator mode, back-seat-game the players, and then bill everybody consultation fees ;D
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Eugene (profile), 17 Aug 2011 @ 6:08pm

Re:
Minecraft is based on an open source program called Infiniminer. I don't think it contains any of the concepts found in Dwarf Fortress except the incidental ones. eg "digging" and "procedural generation" and "lo fi graphics".

In fact, the most important mechanic of the game: using torches to create light in order to drive away monsters, is nowhere to be seen in either infiniminer or DF.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Aug 2011 @ 7:05pm

Ops... my 'Elder' game its in trouble.
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fb39ca4 (profile), 17 Aug 2011 @ 7:39pm

This is amazing!!!
I hope it gets streamed online!
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 17 Aug 2011 @ 7:40pm

The lawsuit is silly.

The seemingly endless silence waiting for Bethesda to respond to anything is not helping their case in the court of public opinion.

While a real courtroom will have to hear the tired explanations of why the word scrolls has to only be for 1 side to ever possibly use for a computer game, the damage will be done.

Bethesda will appear to be a large faceless corporation who kicked the snot out of a plucky indie designer over something as silly as people confusing 2 very different games because the titles both contain the word scrolls.

That has to be very appealing to the gamer demographic, even people not that fond of Minecraft are entertained by the idea of using Quake to settle the problem. Its a game issue so why not use a game to solve it?

Its win/win for Notch. He is building goodwill with the gamer community can keeping his upcoming product in the spotlight. Besides I think it would be fun to see him release the game with a new name. New Name - Formerly known as Scrolls.
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athe, 17 Aug 2011 @ 8:38pm

Re: If only..
... on our smartphones!
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Drew (profile), 17 Aug 2011 @ 11:47pm

Re:
It's called innovation...look into it.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Aug 2011 @ 12:53am

Re:
Almost nobody deserves what they get, good or bad. They get it anyway. Its no use complaining about it, its futile to link deserving and getting, and an appeal to fairness is meaningless. Work hard and you may get lucky, or you may not. If youre lucky today, you may not be tomorrow, and vice versa.
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Marcel de Jong (profile), 18 Aug 2011 @ 1:01am

yes, I went there.
I guess, his way of dealing with legal issues is... *puts on sunglasses*... top Notch!

YEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
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indieThing (profile), 18 Aug 2011 @ 2:24am

Re:
Huh, show me a game that doesn't have ideas and concepts from other, earlier games.
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AJ, 18 Aug 2011 @ 4:50am

Sweeet!
These two companies could turn this into such an epic win win that you can pretty much guarantee the lawyers won't let em do it.

Here's what they do:

Bethesda calls Gamespot, and tells them they plan on accepting the challenge, and that since Gamespot is neutral ground, they should host it. Then you set a time and date, build video profiles of the warriors... example: "Tippy the Wonder Slug (From Accounting), Weapon of choice: Rail Gun... etc...), you do the build up like a UFC, fighters face to face... epic music playing, the mic drops from the ceiling and Chuck Norris takes the stage to intro the match FUCKING CHUCK NORRIS HELL YEAZ! ... geeks from around the world screaming and throwing pocket protectors at the opposing teams.. Some hot chick with a sign walks across the stage with a giant number... fireworks.... music.... game on!

The amount of "street cred" these two companies would take away from an event like this would be unmeasurable.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Aug 2011 @ 5:48am

Re: This will leave people out?
(Exactly what I was thinking.)

But think of the lawyers.
And their children.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Aug 2011 @ 6:10am

Re: This will leave people out?
I swear I read somewhere that lawyers eat their young if not separated at birth...
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Aug 2011 @ 6:26am

Re: Sweeet!
You, sir, win 1 internets.
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Gabriel Tane (profile), 18 Aug 2011 @ 8:01am

Re: Re: This will leave people out?
I'd rather think of the children eating the lawyers then going on to become actual productive members of society. But I'm a dreamer, so...
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One_of_the_Norm (profile), 18 Aug 2011 @ 8:07am

Re: Sweeet!
That would be awesome!

They could even make some money off it. Make it an internet site pay-per-view (as other suggested) but at a minimal cost. A couple of bucks only and with the advertising, you'd pull in an insanely massive amount of people.

I'd not only be willing to pay $2 US to watch it, but would be enthusiastically looking at the calendar each day waiting for it.
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Gabriel Tane (profile), 18 Aug 2011 @ 8:10am

Re: Re: everything should be settled like this
No. I hope not.
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Gabriel Tane (profile), 18 Aug 2011 @ 8:13am

Well, if you want to update an old idea...
Back in the day, my friends and I would settle such disputes by playing Blades of Steel on the NES. Actually, we still do. Playing them in FPS is kinda stacked since they suck at it. :|
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SabreCat, 18 Aug 2011 @ 9:13am

Re:
"Besides I think it would be fun to see him release the game with a new name. New Name - Formerly known as Scrolls."

Like the Totally Renamed Spy Game!
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dwg, 18 Aug 2011 @ 10:38am

Re: Re: This will leave people out?
Sorry, but this crap is so lame. Do EFF and ACLU lawyers revolt you, too? Civil rights lawyers defending hackers? Fair-use maximalist lawyers?

It's just so tiresome, this spray of venom. I know you'll respond with "the majority of lawyers suck--a few are good" but those few get tarred with the same brush you use for the majority. It makes it harder to want to do right by people--especially when you're the ones I'm working to help.
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Chris in Utah (profile), 18 Aug 2011 @ 11:16am

FUN BEFORE FEAR, KEEP WHAT YOU KILL, TILL UTOPIAN PLAYLAND COME

TOYSOLDIERSUNITE.COM

XFIRE.COM/COMMUNITIES/COSAINTS
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The Groove Tiger (profile), 18 Aug 2011 @ 2:34pm

I liked this earlier tweet by notch:

"Signing a deal with Orson Scott Card to make Scrolls a scifi adventure game instead to stop the confusion. We�re naming it The Ender Scrolls"
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CrushU, 18 Aug 2011 @ 3:20pm

Re:
I've played Minecraft and Dwarf Fortress.

"Core concepts"? ... The only things the two games have in common is terrain generation and mining.

In Minecraft, you control one guy, yourself, and do everything from the first person perspective. In Dwarf Fortress, you either control one guy, doing everything from the third person perspective and it's a straight-up adventure game, or you control a fortress worth of dwarves, controlling them from a top-down 'god-like' perspective.

In Minecraft, crafting is accomplished by putting together ingredients in pre-specified orders. In Dwarf Fortress, crafting is accomplished by giving an order to your workshops, and making sure the materials are available.

In Minecraft, lava flows and kills you almost instantly. In Dwarf Fortress, lava flows, sets things on fire, and kills you because you're On Fire, and can also cool and harden into Obsidian.

The two games are only very loosely related. (I prefer Dwarf Fortress.)
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NotMyRealName (profile), 18 Aug 2011 @ 8:57pm

Re:
I always thought the Ender series would make a cool game. Like missile command except there are dozens of gun turrets and they all move. You would need a full arcade panel (four joysticks + buttons) to play.
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Shad, 10 Aug 2012 @ 1:00pm

Re:
That was his game he took 'things' from.
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