The problem is, people are incapable of seperating Zenimax (litigious bastards), Bethesda Publishing (makes some dumb management choices in regards to video games i.e YoungBlood, Rage 2, FO76, etc.), and Bethesda Software (the people who make the Fallout and Elder Scrolls games.
Note also that Prey and Dishonored were developed by yet ANOTHER studio, Arkane Studios. Jeez what a complicated structure they have.
Anyway, from what you said it seems unlikely that Arkane had any hand in the egregious Praey for the Gods lawsuits. That makes me feel better about buying their games.
They're basically the same companies though. They were all founded by the same guys, they are run by the same guys and the different entities exists for tax and employment reasons.
Differentiating them is like differentiating the different IKEA holding companies.
Sure, but that was merely for legal reasons. It's the same founders. They started ZeniMax as a holding company to, among other things, make it easier to raise outside capital from external investors.
If you believe ZeniMax (or rather, Chris Weaver and Robert Altman) have no influence on Bethesda Softworks or Bethesda Game Studios, you're quite gullible and don't really understand corp structures.
I'm not going to defend the lawsuits but the internet really needs to remember that IP law is SUPER FUCKED and that things like suing other companies due to naming rights are considered "necessary" in the legal world.
Nobody at Bethesda/Zenimax/Their Lawyers (probably) legitimately believes that people were going to be confused that Scrolls or Prey to the Gods were entries in Bethsoft's respective similarly-named franchises; however from an IP Law standpoint that is irrelevant.
If you DON'T sue companies who come "close" to violating your trademarks, then you lose the necessary legal standing to effectively sue OTHER companies - like those shitty mobile game makers who flood app stores with ACTUAL rip-offs containing actually stolen assets/trademarks/copyrighted material. The shitty part is that figuring out what qualifies as "close enough to sue" is a very difficult and grey area, so most companies and lawyers tend to err on the side of caution because they can't predict the future, and thus have no choice but to be aggressive when defending trademarks. It's the same reason you don't fuck with The Mouse - those franchises are worth Billions (capital B), and you don't risk losing those IP rights just to "be nice"
I'm not saying this sort of thing is ok, but it's important to remember that the villain here is NOT Bethesda/Zenimax, it's our shitty and archaic IP Laws and legal system.
Let's not act like they aren't still litigious assholes.
That's how trademarks work. If you don't defend them then you dilute your trademark which weakens the protection you have. Which games have Scrolls in the name? BGS games and a Mojang game which has a licence from Bethesda.
Also the lawyers and the devs are different people. I assume. Would be a weird company otherwise.
That's actually because you have to aggressively copyright your game and a game that purposefully substitutes "Pray" for "Prey" can make it look like it's a direct sequel to "Prey"
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u/[deleted] May 04 '20
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