The original Fallout games laid the foundation for Fallout 3, so I was definitely thinking "WTF" when I read that Bethesda Softworks has filed a lawsuit accusing Interplay of trademark infringement over its sales of Fallout Trilogy. Apparently Bethesda and Interplay had an agreement whereby Interplay was allowed to continue to make and sell the old Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics games, but all advertising and promotional materials had to be approved by Bethesda beforehand.
Bethesda is now claiming that Interplay did not do so, and that games are now becoming confused about who made the classic and the new Fallout games, in addition to breaking their agreement by selling the games via digital download. Supposedly this situation has caused Bethesda "immediate, substantial, and irreparable harm."
Basically, Bethesda wants to permanently take away Interplay's right to make and sell the classic Fallout games, and is seeking to terminate an agreement that gave Interplay the right to create and sell a Fallout-based MMO.
From the standpoint of a gamer, I can only guess that this has a lot more to do with Bethesda seeking to make money than any actual confusion on the part of people buying the games. The transfer of rights to develop games under a popular franchise name happens all the time, and I don't know of a single person who would choose to avoid buying Fallout 3 because of the older games Interplay is selling. Companies sign contracts and agreements all the time, and each party has a responsibility to hold up their end of the agreement, but this seems to be more about the fine print of the contract than it does any real market impact.
There is a lot of money to be made by the company who earns the right to sell the Fallout MMO, and in this gamer's view that is the key point of this lawsuit. Bethesda doesn't want to have to settle for a 12% cut of the revenue from a Fallout MMO when they stand to make so much more. Claiming trademark infringement (no doubt due to some technicality) looks like a way that they might be able to wiggle out of the bargain.
What really sucks is not that Interplay might get screwed out of a ton of money (they've been developing the MMO for years now, not to mention the expected future profits), but that we the gamers are the ones who will suffer from this. It will likely mean that the Fallout Trilogy can no longer be created and sold (Interplay may not be allowed to do so, but Bethesda won't have the rights to the old games) at all, and that the Fallout MMO will lose at least two years' worth of development, unless the two companies can come to a new, more binding agreement.
What do you think? Is it right for them to sue Interplay for selling the games that they funded and published?
