Mojang, the Swedish studio behind cult-hit Minecraft, has settled a legal dispute with The Elder Scrolls-developer Bethesda Softworks, over the rights to the word "Scrolls".
Mojang's second game, headed by Jakob Porsér, will be a dastardly mix of collectible card and traditional board game, and has got a top-down view and a hexagaon-based grid system. It will be called Scrolls.
In the summer of 2011 Bethesda's parent company ZeniMax Media threatened Mojang with legal action, claiming that the title infringes on its Elder Scrolls trademark, and that it has first right to use the 'scrolls' term with entertainment products.
Minecraft creator Markus Persson's response -- challenging the publisher to a winner-takes-all Quake III deathmatch -- didn't really work. Bethesda ignored the duel, and filed a lawsuit against Mojang. "The Scrolls case is going to court! Weee!," Persson tweeted, in September.
In October, Mojang won an interim injunction. "We can keep using the name Scrolls. ZeniMax and Bethesda can still appeal the ruling, but I'm very happy," Persson said, on Twitter.
Now, the eight-month battle has come to an amicable conclusion. "We have settled the lawsuit over Scrolls, and Mojang and Bethesda are friends again," said Carl Manneh, the Minecraft studio's managing director. "Scrolls is still going to be called
Scrolls."
Persson further explained the details of the settlement on Twitter. "We give them the [Scrolls] trademark, get to keep the name, and won't make an Elder Scrolls competitor using the name."
Scrolls will probably appear, in Alpha form, on PC, Mac and Linux sometime this year. As for Bethesda, it's smash-hit
Elder Scrolls game Skyrim came out in 2011.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
