Mojang studios founder and
Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson has suggested a novel method for settling
a recent trademark dispute brought by Bethesda: a
Quake III deathmatch.
Calling the lawsuit "the only negative thing going on [in my life] at this moment," Persson suggested Bethesda and Mojang both send three players to participate in 20 minute team deathmatches played across two levels, one picked by each side.
Under the proposed scenario, if Mojang wins, Bethesda would drop its lawsuit alleging that Mojang's upcoming
Scrolls conflicts with Bethesda's
The Elder Scrolls trademark. If Bethesda wins, however, Mojang would have to change the name of
Scrolls "to something you’re fine with."
"I am serious, by the way," Persson added by way of coda.
The lighthearted offer touches on the serious and increasingly common issue of costly patent and trademark cases impacting game and software developers.
Doodle Jump maker Lima Sky recently tried to use its trademark to have competing games with "Doodle" in the name
removed from the iTunes marketplace.
In a similar conflict, Blizzard and Valve are currently embroiled in
dueling claims over the trademark rights to the term "Dota."
And developer Tim Langdell has,
until recently, used his claim to the Edge Games trademark to try to halt development or draw royalties from companies ranging from
Mobigame to
Electronic Arts.
Earlier today, Microsoft announced Double Fine's
Trenched would be renamed Iron Brigade to avoid trademark conflicts with a Portuguese board game.
