John Carmack extremely frustrated by consoles limitations

 

Stop whining around Johnny and make a PC exclusive then. Oh, what's that? Bethy said you can't? Well, life's a bitch.

Lawyers being pr... Lawyers.

Best Bodycount Preview I've read yet.

Stop it already, Nightshape. Nobody is interested in your (ex) game.

Stop it already, Nightshape. Nobody is interested in your (ex) game.

 

Lawyers being pr... Lawyers.

So the whole brouhaha is that Notch tried to trademark "Scrolls" for game purposes and Bethesda opposed it? Maybe it's me being a lawyer, but that seems like a pretty ****ing reasonable reaction from them. Don't think "scrolls" is/should be trademarkeable, anyway.

 

Also enjoying the commentary by people with the usual total lack of comprehesion of the differences between copyright, patents and trademarks, yet who still consider themselves to be experts.

Edited August 9, 201114 yr by Nepenthe

Lawyers being pr... Lawyers.

So the whole brouhaha is that Notch tried to trademark "Scrolls" for game purposes and Bethesda opposed it? Maybe it's me being a lawyer, but that seems like a pretty ****ing reasonable reaction from them. Don't think "scrolls" is/should be trademarkeable.

 

If they can keep someone from trademarking it doesn't that mean they practically trademarked it themselves?

Lawyers being pr... Lawyers.

So the whole brouhaha is that Notch tried to trademark "Scrolls" for game purposes and Bethesda opposed it? Maybe it's me being a lawyer, but that seems like a pretty ****ing reasonable reaction from them. Don't think "scrolls" is/should be trademarkeable.

 

If they can keep someone from trademarking it doesn't that mean they practically trademarked it themselves?

I'm not a trademark specialist, but if I understand it correctly it means that you are the only one who can do a particular type of trade under that name (franchise/company name). If you can't get it trademarked it "just" means everybody else can use it too. There seems to be a growing resistance towards letting obvious common day items be registered as trademarks. There seems to be some weird rules about defending your trademarks too, sort of "use it or lose it" and possibly forfeiting it if you don't contest other entities' use of it (waiting for a lawyer to stop by and clarify).

John Carmack extremely frustrated by consoles limitations

 

Stop whining around Johnny and make a PC exclusive then. Oh, what's that? Bethy said you can't? Well, life's a bitch.

If you plan on playing Rage on 360 prepare for a... ... 22 Gig install!

Lawyers being pr... Lawyers.

So the whole brouhaha is that Notch tried to trademark "Scrolls" for game purposes and Bethesda opposed it? Maybe it's me being a lawyer, but that seems like a pretty ****ing reasonable reaction from them. Don't think "scrolls" is/should be trademarkeable.

 

If they can keep someone from trademarking it doesn't that mean they practically trademarked it themselves?

I'm not a trademark specialist, but if I understand it correctly it means that you are the only one who can do a particular type of trade under that name (franchise/company name). If you can't get it trademarked it "just" means everybody else can use it too. There seems to be a growing resistance towards letting obvious common day items be registered as trademarks. There seems to be some weird rules about defending your trademarks too, sort of "use it or lose it" and possibly forfeiting it if you don't contest other entities' use of it (waiting for a lawyer to stop by and clarify).

 

But the Bethesda trademark is "Elder Scrolls", how can they even propose to keep someone from using a general English term like "Scrolls"?

Lawyers being pr... Lawyers.

So the whole brouhaha is that Notch tried to trademark "Scrolls" for game purposes and Bethesda opposed it? Maybe it's me being a lawyer, but that seems like a pretty ****ing reasonable reaction from them. Don't think "scrolls" is/should be trademarkeable.

 

If they can keep someone from trademarking it doesn't that mean they practically trademarked it themselves?

I'm not a trademark specialist, but if I understand it correctly it means that you are the only one who can do a particular type of trade under that name (franchise/company name). If you can't get it trademarked it "just" means everybody else can use it too. There seems to be a growing resistance towards letting obvious common day items be registered as trademarks. There seems to be some weird rules about defending your trademarks too, sort of "use it or lose it" and possibly forfeiting it if you don't contest other entities' use of it (waiting for a lawyer to stop by and clarify).

 

But the Bethesda trademark is "Elder Scrolls", how can they even propose to keep someone from using a general English term like "Scrolls"?

I wonder if the objection is to them using it or to them trademarking it?

John Carmack extremely frustrated by consoles limitations

 

Stop whining around Johnny and make a PC exclusive then. Oh, what's that? Bethy said you can't? Well, life's a bitch.

If you plan on playing Rage on 360 prepare for a... ... 22 Gig install!

 

 

That's pretty horrific, utterly expected considering that basically RAGE is a massive texture streaming system with some game slapped on.

 

I expect that kind of install to be the same across platforms.

At least the name is appropriate

I'm not a trademark specialist, but if I understand it correctly it means that you are the only one who can do a particular type of trade under that name (franchise/company name). If you can't get it trademarked it "just" means everybody else can use it too. There seems to be a growing resistance towards letting obvious common day items be registered as trademarks. There seems to be some weird rules about defending your trademarks too, sort of "use it or lose it" and possibly forfeiting it if you don't contest other entities' use of it (waiting for a lawyer to stop by and clarify).

Close enough for the purposes of this discussion.

 

If I had to guess, Bethesda's acting due to two reasons 1) they are afraid of trademark dilution 2) a registered "scrolls" trademark could wind up in the hands of someone much nastier than the guys applying for it now, and who could use it offensively against Bethesda.

 

IMO Persson is just playing innocent (or he's stupid, which I doubt), and gamers are all too ready to gobble up the "evil producer harassing a poor indie developer" angle.

 

I wonder if the objection is to them using it or to them trademarking it?

The objection was to an attempt to trademark "scrolls".

 

Edit: Missed that question. Roughly trademark gives you an exclusive right to something (name, term, pattern in the case of Burberry). No trademark, no exclusive right, anyone can make games called "scrolls". (Which, IMO, is not unreasonable)

Edited August 9, 201114 yr by Nepenthe

The objection was to an attempt to trademark "scrolls".

 

That's what I though. That makes sense then, things could for Bethesda get unpleasant and costly if "scrolls" gets trademarked. Its a hypothetical situation but still problematic (from their pov).

Download Metroid music

John Carmack extremely frustrated by consoles limitations

 

Stop whining around Johnny and make a PC exclusive then. Oh, what's that? Bethy said you can't? Well, life's a bitch.

If you plan on playing Rage on 360 prepare for a... ... 22 Gig install!

 

 

That's pretty horrific, utterly expected considering that basically RAGE is a massive texture streaming system with some game slapped on.

 

I expect that kind of install to be the same across platforms.

That's what you get if you don't want any loading screens. And i doubt ps3 will have that install.

John Carmack extremely frustrated by consoles limitations

 

Stop whining around Johnny and make a PC exclusive then. Oh, what's that? Bethy said you can't? Well, life's a bitch.

If you plan on playing Rage on 360 prepare for a... ... 22 Gig install!

 

 

That's pretty horrific, utterly expected considering that basically RAGE is a massive texture streaming system with some game slapped on.

 

I expect that kind of install to be the same across platforms.

That's what you get if you don't want any loading screens. And i doubt ps3 will have that install.

 

PS3 has install, how much is actually being negotiated. Carmack mentioned it in his keynote speech recently.

 

It isn't actually about no loading screens, its specifically, the mega-texture approach. Everything had a unique texture - which some reuse when possible, but for the most part its a 128x128 image mapped to each small section of the world.

 

While the technique is unique, I'm not convinced that its worthwhile, I'll see if I every play the game.

EA trademarks Alpha Centauri

What an utterly pointless game.

What an utterly pointless game.

Risen 2 trailer

EA trademarks Alpha Centauri

 

EA trademarks Alpha Centauri

 

 

I know.