Connect
- 142 Comments
-
Bethesda vs. Interplay - more detail
New details have surfaced about Bethesda's lawsuit against Interplay over trademark infringement. Or lawsuits, because, as you can see in the court filings, there are two of them.
The first one, as we described in the previous newspost, is over the rights to Fallout Online (codenamed Project V13). The second one, however, is over Interplay's re-releases of original Fallout games, like the Fallout Trilogy pack or various digital distribution sites.
Turns out that, while Interplay was permitted to sell Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics the contract required all advertising, packaging and other promotional material to be sent to Bethesda for approval first, which, according to the lawsuit, was never done regarding neither the Fallout Trilogy pack, nor any of the releases through Good Old Games, Steam and other digital distribution platforms. Bethesda also claims that the name Trilogy constitutes unfair competition, since it suggests that the pack includes Fallout 3.
To sum it up, Interplay is accused of two counts of breach of contract (regarding Fallout Online and the previous Fallout games), trademark infringement and unfrair competition. Bethesda demands that Interplay stop manufacturing and distributing the original Fallout games, as well as pay for damages and legal fees, and asks for the trademark agreement to be declared terminated.
Asked for a statement, Interplay's Chris Taylor stated that he cannot comment on any pending litigation.
- Showing 25 most recent
- Show all
142 comments
You cannot add a comment to the article.
-
I know I am a little late on this but... Nice move Bethesda! Btw, i'm serious. I've played FO 1 and 2 and i have to say i have enjoyed them very much but IMO Fallout 3 makes those games look like shit and frankly since FO: New Vegas is being worked on by Obsidian, I'm not very trusting that it will be as impressive as FO 3.
-
The old Interplay was good, but you if you seriously believe THIS new Interplay is fit to handle the classics of Fallout 1 and 2, then I know why it is you still think Fallout 2 was on par with Fallout 3. Fallout 1 was amazing, 2 was a joke, and 3 was great. This current Interplay has 1 guy, ONE guy who worked on Fallout.
"Third and most important Interplay has a right under the very contract you guys are accusing them of breaching, to Continue to sell Fallout games they made (example Fallout Trilogy)." But it wasn't approved. They can sell, but they have to get it approved. Did you even read what the suit is over?
You guys do remember that Interplay is at fault for Fallout's loss. Van Buran was canned by them. Black Isle's guys left Interplay because of this and various reasons.
The anon who said "Im so happy its in someones hands who actually wants to make a game of the year with the franchise" is 100% correct. "Giving the fans what they want" has never really been on any game developers' list of things to do unless it means getting money and getting more fans. Fallout was dead by the time it was sold to Bethesda. Bethesda brought it back and contrary to what you believe, they revived the hell out of something that would have never been made. Something is better than nothing.
-
Bethesda is just a money hog. They don't care. They just want money. I say we boycott
-
Stop saying that Interplay publishes bad/outdated games. Giant: Citizen Kabuto is NOT a bad game. And it's certainly not outdated. 8 years. Bah. It's still a better game than any of the FPS I have played.
-
Bethesda, man, you are going to start losing fans with this bullcrap. Just let them make the god-damned MMO, and let them keep selling their games. I mean, wouldn't you guys feel like jackasses if this happened to you: "Hey, I bought Fallout 3, and I loved it. I want the earlier Fallout games as well, do you know where I can get them?" "You can't get them anywhere, because we sued their asses." Thanks, Bethesda. You guys suck. You should have just stuck with the Elder Scrolls.
-
First of all, Bethesda new very well that interplay and its staff of 3 people were not going to be able to meet the deadline for the funds. Especially with interplay assets being around 20k, if even that. Interplay not only started releasing the fall out trilogy, but sold rights to another company to make a fall out ds game.
They clearly breached the contract. Irregardless if interplay started the series or not, bethesda has every right to seize the intellectual properties. That's what we have the copyright system for. If interplay gets away with this. It will open the door to whole mess of copyright problems. Even if the rights for the original fallouts get split. It would be impossible to keep them entirely off the market. Eventually all forms of information will be free as is. As for the fanboys on both sides. Cut the crap. I don't care if you are a 30 year old gamer from the 80s that faves story driven games or a teen that favors immersive 3d environments. People as individuals prefer different types of games. Stop arguing over purposeless semantics. -
First of all, Bethesda new very well that interplay and its staff of 3 people were not going to be able to meet the deadline for the funds. Especially with interplay assets being around 20k, if even that. Interplay not only started releasing the fall out trilogy, but sold rights to another company to make a fall out ds game.
They clearly breached the contract. Irregardless if interplay started the series or not, bethesda has every right to seize the intellectual properties. That's what we have the copyright system for. If interplay gets away with this. It will open the door to whole mess of copyright problems. Even if the rights for the original fallouts get split. It would be impossible to keep them entirely off the market. Eventually all forms of information will be free as is. As for the fanboys on both sides. Cut the crap. I don't care if you are a 30 year old gamer from the 80s that faves story driven games or a teen that favors immersive 3d environments. People as individuals prefer different types of games. Stop arguing over purposeless semantics. -
Black Isle was the developer of Fallout but it was also always a division of Interplay, and not a separate company.
And Fallout does not use Baldur's Gate's Infinity Engine.
-
wtf @ some of you guys... 'Black Isle' , the developer of fallout 1 and 2 (built with, the ORIGINAL, Baldurs Gate engine by Bioware) , was working on a 3rd title. 'The VanBuren Project' which was canned by Interplay and then FKN tactics was made instead by an Austrailian developer who I cant recall the name of.
'Black Isle' mostly reformed to become 'Obsidian ent.', who..... are making a game called Fallout:New Vegas for Bethesda that will be on shelves in fall 2010.
Sure Fallout3 wasn't perfect, but it was huge and a ton of fun for most of us who played it. I appreciate how the spirit of the game is still intact and that they put a lot of care and attention into making a successful update to what was an awesome, and mature north American game franchise.
Interplay f'ed up on Fallout and its developer in so many ways that reading you Interplay lovers is making me sick. No marketing, no faith in the 'Van Buren Project', and letting the staff go who made the most advanced RPG ,a standard of quality content that is still not really being lived up to by most modern RPG in my opinion.
Interplay also cheaply licensed fallout to be made into a shovelware game for the xbox and ps2. Im so happy its in someones hands who actually wants to make a game of the year with the franchise.
Bethesda has the money the talent and the following... If your actually a fan of Fallout then be happy that the franchise was dug from its grave in Interplays toilet, and given new life on our consoles and PCs by a company full of Fallout fanboys. Stop thinking Interplay has been robbed... they robbed us of actual Fallout RPGs and canned Black Isle!!! So do some goddam research if you actually care and have fun with Fallout: New Vegas.
PS: Im guessing that the next elderscrolls game tech will again be a step towards an bigger and more amazing Fallout game.
-signed: an oldschool fan, who was around waiting for Fallout3 since the 1990s.
-
Come on... this is madness, Bethesda and Interplay are both to balme, in a way, Bethesda is bullying Interplay but at the same tome Interplay failed to keep their end of the contract... I think they both did a fantastic job on the Fallout series and they both have very different styles of gameplay.
At the end of all of this, the Fallout franchise willhave become totally commercialised and will have had all the money sucked from them, resulting in a loss of interst and disregard for both production companies...
They should just settle the lawsuit and agree to differ on the matter...
-
"First off a trilogy is a collection of 3 parts. Any three parts. They only have to be similar NOT a 1-2-3, many trilogy's go 1-2-3 but not all EVEN Starwars started on episode 4...... "
Yes but if someone sold a "Star Wars Trilogy" and it consisted of Phantom Menace, Return of the Jedi, and The Star Wars Holiday Special, I think there would be issues.
-
"First off a trilogy is a collection of 3 parts. Any three parts. They only have to be similar NOT a 1-2-3, many trilogy's go 1-2-3 but not all EVEN Starwars started on episode 4...... "
Yes but if someone sold a "Star Wars Trilogy" and it consisted of Phantom Menace, Return of the Jedi, and The Star Wars Holiday Special, I think there would be issues.
-
"Third and most important Interplay has a right under the very contract you guys are accusing them of breaching, to Continue to sell Fallout games they made (example Fallout Trilogy)."
Yes, they had a right to continue selling the old games, but that right was tempered by the fact that the box art and advertising needed to be approved (so that people didn't think "Trilogy" meant it included Fallout 3).
To the people that are all upset about Bethesda trying to protect the rights to the property they paid for, imagine a scenario where someone had a house that was turned into apartments. They decide to sell the house, except for the ground floor, which they will continue to use as a rental property. You buy it with a plan to add an addition to the back and other future plans. A contract is signed, you pay money, and everyone is happy.
You build that addition and turn it into more apartments and now you are making much more money than the original owner. Now let’s say the original owner still tries to rent their ground floor apartment and advertises it in a way that implies access to the new addition. People on a blog start supporting them because it was "Their house first" and "They built it with their own two hands while walking uphill both ways in the snow with only one shoe!" and "Even though they sold the house they should still own it somehow because contracts are evil RAARRR!!!" and “Ownership of stuff stifles the flow of my karma and society improves when printing presses from China somehow… something about the Renaissance… man this is good pot…”
Would you agree with the posters and let the original owner use the house you paid for like that? Most likely you'd say "Tough, it's my house now, you got concessions in the original contract, stop trying to mess with my stuff."
-
"Third and most important Interplay has a right under the very contract you guys are accusing them of breaching, to Continue to sell Fallout games they made (example Fallout Trilogy)."
Yes, they had a right to continue selling the old games, but that right was tempered by the fact that the box art and advertising needed to be approved (so that people didn't think "Trilogy" meant it included Fallout 3).
To the people that are all upset about Bethesda trying to protect the rights to the property they paid for, imagine a scenario where someone had a house that was turned into apartments. They decide to sell the house, except for the ground floor, which they will continue to use as a rental property. You buy it with a plan to add an addition to the back and other future plans. A contract is signed, you pay money, and everyone is happy.
You build that addition and turn it into more apartments and now you are making much more money than the original owner. Now let’s say the original owner still tries to rent their ground floor apartment and advertises it in a way that implies access to the new addition. People on a blog start supporting them because it was "Their house first" and "They built it with their own two hands while walking uphill both ways in the snow with only one shoe!" and "Even though they sold the house they should still own it somehow because contracts are evil RAARRR!!!" and “Ownership of stuff stifles the flow of my karma and society improves when printing presses from China somehow… something about the Renaissance… man this is good pot…”
Would you agree with the posters and let the original owner use the house you paid for like that? Most likely you'd say "Tough, it's my house now, you got concessions in the original contract, stop trying to mess with my stuff."
-
i love fallout but i think interplay should win ,they go bankrupt and the rights are left in limbo never to be touched again
-
First off a trilogy is a collection of 3 parts. Any three parts. They only have to be similar NOT a 1-2-3, many trilogy's go 1-2-3 but not all EVEN Starwars started on episode 4......
Second interplay has been selling the Fallout Trilogy a LOT longer then Bethesda has been selling Fallout 3.
Third and most important Interplay has a right under the very contract you guys are accusing them of breaching, to Continue to sell Fallout games they made (example Fallout Trilogy).
The Judge seems to think this is also correct as the first round of court battles (a preliminary injunction) Went to Interplay.
-
How can you even call fallout trilogy worth anything!! I bought it thinking it might have some value compared to the Fallout 3 which is a game of value. Fallout trilogy reminds of games you play on paper with honeycone patterns and dice. What is that, Back to the Past I think it's not worth anything besides a look at the past of how BAD games were.
-
Beth's reasoning for this is perfectly sound. Interplay signed a contract that they failed to uphold so they have effectively made themselves Bethesda's legal bitch.
Interplay signed the contract, Interplay failed to deliver, Bethesda is trying to get what is legally theirs.
-
Interplay sucks...
-
corporate insanity, thats wrong bethesda has its hands around a smaller developers throat for retarded reasons, i like fallout 3 but its not bethesdas franchise, its their slave.
-
Brian Fargo's Interplay made great games and was a great company to work for.
Herve Caen's Interplay is an Epic fail and all Herve has done is sell off bits of the heart of Interplay while not up holding his obligation to the employees or fans of Interplay.
I am sad to see what has happened to Interplay and can only hope Bethesda will keep Fallout alive.
-
reply to:Hope Interplay wins, fuck the contract, the game were made by them, the idea by them, they should have the rights to sell what they want, when they want and were they want. I hate contracts... Fallout 1, 2, BoS and tactics are cool, it should never end.
interplay sold their rights to beth. the contract that THEY agreed to was obviously violated, regardless of if fallout was their idea or not, they gave up their rights to the game therefor have to release their games how the new owners see fit
-
I do have the ones submitted by Interplay, but I can't really send them to you legally.
-
Does anyone have the pleadings (complaint, answer, ect...) or have links to them so we can read the actual court documents?
-
Clearly Bethesda had a strategy planned to discredit (destroy) Interplay from the very beginning so they could capitalize fully on the franchise. It's a dirty business but how big companies work.
