http://twitter.com/#!/notch/status/126196998826242048

Mojang has won the first trial against Bethesda. I hope Bethesda doesn't try to appeal, just a waste of my taxmoney.

There is a protocol to read from the trial but it's in swedish and very long, but the main point seems to be that the court doesn't think that people will confuse the 2 titles.

Awesome news! Do you have a link to the protocol?

Edit: Here's a summary of the verdict (from kalmisto @ reddit)

ZeniMax Media lnc., owner of Bethesda Softworks, initiated proceedings for trademark infringement against Mojang AB. The District Court of Stockholm has now made a decision on Zenimax's claim for an interim (preliminary) injunction, which would, if granted, have prohibited Mojang at the penalty of a fine from continuing use of the title SCROLLS until the case is finally settled following main proceedings. Interim injunctions in Sweden are made as part of the main proceedings, but take place within just a few (intense) weeks, usually in writing only.

As a consequence, the Court will usually have less documentation to base its decision on. The requirements for granting an interim injunction is therefore also lower as compared to a final injunction, since the intention is of obtaining quick relief against an ongoing infringement, where the trademark owner may not have time to collect sufficient evidence. The requirement, which is of “probable grounds" of infringement, is rather low.

The Court decides on whether or not trademark infringement is at hand based on an overall assessment of risk of confusion. This assessment takes into account several elements, such as how well-known the allegedly infringed trademark is on the market, similarity of the trademarks and similarity of the goods. In essence, the question is asked if the average (hypothetical) consumer would risk becoming confused between the two marks.

The Court in this decision starts by analyzing the goods at hand, finding first that there are significant differences between the games in THE ELDER SCROLLS® series and the game SCROLLS, and that channels of distribution will be different (SCROLLS will only be sold by Mojang on its websites mojang.com and scrolls.oom). Nevertheless. the Court finds that there are similarities as well - both games/series taking place in a fantasy setting, and that consumers appear to be somewhat overlapping. and that as a consequence. there is a relatively high degree of similarity of goods.

The Court then goes on to discuss the consumers of these kinds of games. ZeniMax's opinion is that it is the general public, which holds no particular awareness of differences between various titles and games. Mojang on the contrary, has argued that computer and video gamers constitute a well defined (albeit large) group which is very much aware of differences between various games and titles. The Court finds mostly with Mojang. agreeing that the relevant consumers are not the general public, and that their awareness is higher than normal.

On similarity of THE ELDER SCROLLS® and SCROLLS. the Court states that there is a certain degree of similarity. However, as Mojang has argued, scrolls feature frequently in titles and as content in fantasy settings, and in particular in fantasy games. The word scrolls therefore is oonsidered to be common and therefore less distinctive and as a consequence less important. The distinctiveness of THE ELDER SCROLLS® is therefore to a great extent considered dependent on use of the trademark as a whole, meaning that the risk of confusion with SCROLLS is relatively low. The Court therefore, in its overall assessment, does not consider there to be shown probable grounds for trademark infringement.

The decision can be appealed within three weeks. The Court of Appeal will then have to grant leave to appeal in order for the decision to be tried on appeal. Otherwise the main proceedings will continue. Such usually take over a year. and may take up to two years. The decision is very good for Mojang since the Court does not oonsider SCROLLS to infringe THE ELDER SCROLLS®, even taking into account the relatively low requirement of probable grounds.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Minecraft/comments/lg2ul/mojang_wins_legal_battle_with_bethesda/c2sek9t

This whole thing was ridiculous and I'm glad Mojang came out victorious. 

I don't think anyone ever doubted they would win. Bethesda has to protect their trademark and the lawyers were going through the motions to do that. It seems like it was just legal theater to me.

EDIT: I'm tired so I didn't really check the tweet, but all Mojang has won is the interim junction. It's basically saying that they can't get an immediate ban on the use of the name Scrolls until they can actually prove it damages their brand. They're still going to court regardless, and that's where they'll decide if Bethesda's case holds any water - which it certainly might.

It's a bit crazy that this case is going ahead.

Bethesda has to protect their trademarks, can't really blame them for that.

But they were never going to win, hopefully they don't try and push this further.

How could anyone be surprised at this outcome? How could this appeal even happen!?!

Red Faction intruded on CC: Red Alert's name, Jesus to the motherfucking Christ, I CALLED IT.

It's going to be a net loss for ZeniMax regardless of the outcome.

Bethesda has to protect their trademarks, can't really blame them for that.

But they were never going to win, hopefully they don't try and push this further.

This whole thing has been so internet hyped it's not even funny. Normally this kind of suit would have just gone under the radar with little to no money changing hands and no big change in the status quo.

@onarum: If they don't defend their copyright, they leave themselves open to more obvious infringements from people who would then be able to point to this example and how they didn't try and stop them from using it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not siding with Bethesda, but the legal system here isn't as simple as many are making it out to be.

Should have settled the way Notch proposed: Quake Deathmatch!