I knew that Bethesda developers were using The Vault wiki as a source when working on Fallout 3. As it turns out, their legal department also does! Shacknews has a few more details about the Bethesda v. Interplay case, and their article includes a few quotes from the actual court filings.
While Interplay claims that they haven't officially announced Project V13 as a Fallout title, Bethesda claims that "V13" is an obvious reference to Vault 13, "both the starting location and the the initial working title of the original Fallout game." Sounds familiar? That's because it's only a slight paraphrase of the following section in The Vault's Project V13 FAQ:
- What does "V13" stand for?
- It likely stands for Vault 13, which was the starting location in the original Fallout. Vault 13: A GURPS Post-Nuclear Adventure was also the initial working title of what eventually became Fallout.
It's especially evident when you google for "starting location" + "initial working title". And given the fact that it's not exactly correct - it was a working title, but not the initial one.
It also turns out that two days before the Fallout Online licensing agreement allegedly automatically terminated, Interplay sent Bethesda a letter in which it claimed that it is "in compliance with the requirements" with no proof backing it up, and requesting amendment to the agreement (which allowed them to release the game only on PC) to "ultimately launch the FALLOUT MMOG to be compatible with and accessible on both handheld devices and consoles" Bethesda denied this and claims that Interplay failed to gather $30 million and enter "full-scale development," by April 4, 2009, as per the agreement. Interplay's development partnership with Masthead Studios was also allegedly a violation of the contract.
According to Bethesda, Interplay's Fallout Trilogy (US) Fallout Collection (UK) Saga Fallout (Poland) bundles are "confusingly similar to Fallout 3" and "are in direct competition with Bethesda's Goods and cannibalizes on sales of 'Fallout 3.'" Bethesda does not ask for any set sum of money, as lawsuits often do, and instead wants unspecified monetary damage, which include "Bethesda's damages and Interplay's profits...for Interplay's willful violation of Bethesda's registerd trademarks,". In the lawsuit, it is declared that the "continuing use of the FALLOUT Mark without authorization constitutes willful infringement."
By the way, any lawyers here that have access to the full court filings, by any chance?
