Bethesda Executive Opens Up About Prey for the Gods Trademark Dispute
Last week, there was a legal dispute between Bethesda and No Matter Studios regarding the Prey for the Gods trademark. In recent light, the latter developer has changed the title to “Praey for the Gods” in order to stave off any further legal predicaments. However, fans and gamers alike have criticized the triple A developer for taking advantage of their position and overreacting to the situation at hand. Several separate Twitter responses, as well as a string of Tweets and replies to Public Relations and Marketing Vice President Pete Hines, people took this opportunity to call the company out. Some claimed that Bethesda simply went overboard with their attempt to win back rights while others were simply flabbergasted that they could even defend themselves in this situation. Of course, there are trolls out there who took this time to go above in beyond in attacking the company and executives. Despite this, Hines opened up about the entire situation and wanted to clear up possible misconceptions.
“We really didn’t have much of a choice,” Hines said in response to Daniel Mortenson’s Tweet. “If we don’t oppose the mark, we risk losing our Prey trademark. We don’t really have a choice.”
While Mortenson appreciated his candidness, other social media users did not feel the same way. In fact, a few people claimed that this is the reason they do not buy personal copies of big name games anymore. Disclaiming that his knowledge on the complications of legal matters are limited, the executive also noted that this is not the first time Bethesda has reached out to No Matter Studios regarding the Prey of the Gods trademark issues. Hines elaborated that the many received the impression that this was the first time Bethesda has come into contact with the smaller game studio, but it has been a long process of communication tag.
We didn't. We sent them a letter in Nov of 2015 saying "hey this might be a trademark issue" and several times along the way
— Pete Hines (@DCDeacon) May 5, 2017
Furthermore, legal matters don’t always win in favor of big names. There have been cases where Bethesda had to change names and titles for projects several times over because someone else had already claimed rights to it.
“I think you probably assume [No Matter Studios] are just now hearing from us and this is the only thing we’ve tried. None of that is true,” stated Hines to other Twitter users. “Mojangs trademark filing was rejected and they basically licensed the right to use Scrolls from us. Scrolls would have superseded our Elder Scrolls trademark. Which is why we opposed it and trademark office rejected it.”
Even so, it’s not a simple issue of who is right or wrong. The way legal issues work regarding these issues are complex. In this case, Bethesda had to act quickly for fear of losing claims to “Prey”. What do you think of the entire situation? Do you still believe Bethesda went too far with the Prey of the Gods trademark dispute? Do you think No Matter Studios should have spoken up about this situation more? Feel free to leave any thoughts or comments in the section below or begin a conversation on Don’t Feed the Gamers official Facebook and Twitter! For more awesome gaming and related news, check out the articles below:
Hoi Duong2131 Posts
Hoi is an elusive figure at DFTG, whose favorite past-times include chillin' in the Fade, reading manga, watching anime, collecting novelty items, and gaming.
