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Zenimax, parent company of Bethesda, has gone ahead and sent a cease and desist letter to the developer of mobile game, Fortress Fallout, demanding that the game stop using the word ‘Fallout' in its name. Xreal, the studio behind the small mobile game will no longer be able to use the name or apply for a trademark.
The letter came from Zenimax, the parent company of Fallout developer, Bethesda. According to the publisher, the use of the word Fallout infringes on trademarks owned by Zenimax. Having received some legal advice, the small mobile studio has opted to abandon its own trademark for Fortress Fallout.
[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcwaoUGpaaE']
One big factor in not fighting Zenimax on this is the fact that Zenimax is a much larger company able to afford a legal battle, while Xreal is not in such a position.
Now the developer behind Fortress Fallout is looking at new name options and has asked the community to help him pick one by commenting on a YouTube video.
Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.
KitGuru Says: While it is a shame that Xreal has been strong armed in to changing its name, this has scored the game a ton of free publicity.
What a bunch of pricks.
Fuck them, I’m pirating Fallout 4, I don’t endorse bullies.
Zenimax is such a turd company when it comes to copyrights, it’s not even funny. First they annoy Notch about the name “Scrolls”, now this. I guess beating Interplay into submission wasn’t enough.
Because SOMEONE does not have a logical brain and can’t deduce that they are TOTALLY different. Didn’t they do the same with the game “Scrolls”? (reading the comment by Mr.Fartsmith below now answers this). They might as well do the same to I-Max, since they have more than half their name in it. Or maybe even do the same to the school of Mahayana Buddhism for being called “Zen”. With their logic a private person can sue IKEA for using their name on a product without their permission….
You have to remember, Copyright law in America is really messed up. Zenimax has to send people these ‘cease and desist’ requests, because otherwise the other company would be able to (legally) pull the trademark out from under their feet and bill them for using it for the last 10(ish) years.
It makes zero sense, but It’s America, so go figure.
Wish I could copyright any old word I feel like; wouldn’t mind copyrighting words like ‘the’ and ‘a’ just so people can’t make coherent sentences.
It’s not Bethesda, it’s Zenimax, the company which owns Bethesda.
Onthe bright side the smaller company has inadvertently gotten a ton of publicity from this whole issue, meaning more potential income. I’d take success for a mere name change any day
Dick move by Zenimax tbh. At least on a positive note Xreal got some publicity from this.
I don’t know why they didn’t ask them politely and informally. They could have just quietly sorted the situation out – this just gives Zenimax bad publicity.
I thought it was illegal to hold trademark claims on a single word that actually exists on the dictionary. This is a shameful act from Zenimax and I am seriously considering boycotting bethesda games just for this.