wraggster
May 17th, 2012, 00:29
The creator of Dragon Shout, a free iOS app containing a hand-drawn map for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (http://www.edge-online.com/filter/all/tags/1060), has been sent a copyright infringement notice by ZeniMax Media, parent company of publisher Bethesda.
The move follows ZeniMax's threat of legal action against Mojang (http://www.edge-online.com/news/bethesda-hits-mojang-trademark-claim), developer of Minecraft, last year. Touch Arcade reports that the app creator, known only as Blalock, has not been ordered by Apple to remove his work from the App Store because "ZeniMax didn't specify what the app is specifically violating.
"I did my best to ensure the app was not violating anything," he said. "I looked up US trademarks and copyrights for 'Dragon Shout' and at the time there [weren't] any. I had the map hand-drawn.
"I intentionally didn't use any graphics or wording that would possibly be owned by Bethesda. So, I'm still not sure what they say the app violates."
It sounds harsh, but ZeniMax is known for protecting its brands. Its chief complaint against Mojang's upcoming card game, Scrolls, was that customers would confuse it with The Elder Scrolls, and given that Dragon Shout is solely focused on Skyrim, the same logic could be applied: users might naturally assume that the app is the work of the game's creators. It should be noted, too, that the app's full title is given on iTunes as Dragon Shout For Skyrim (http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/dragon-shout-for-skyrim/id483488468?mt=8), drawing a clear line between it and Bethesda's sprawling RPG.
Last month ZeniMax filed a number of trademarks in a bid to shore up its ownership of Skryim's signature dragon shout, 'Fus Ro Dah' (http://www.edge-online.com/filter/all/tags/1060), presumably with the intent of cracking down on the array of unofficial Skyrim merchandise available on the internet, much of which riffs on the phrase.
http://www.edge-online.com/news/skyrim-map-maker-hit-copyright-notice
The move follows ZeniMax's threat of legal action against Mojang (http://www.edge-online.com/news/bethesda-hits-mojang-trademark-claim), developer of Minecraft, last year. Touch Arcade reports that the app creator, known only as Blalock, has not been ordered by Apple to remove his work from the App Store because "ZeniMax didn't specify what the app is specifically violating.
"I did my best to ensure the app was not violating anything," he said. "I looked up US trademarks and copyrights for 'Dragon Shout' and at the time there [weren't] any. I had the map hand-drawn.
"I intentionally didn't use any graphics or wording that would possibly be owned by Bethesda. So, I'm still not sure what they say the app violates."
It sounds harsh, but ZeniMax is known for protecting its brands. Its chief complaint against Mojang's upcoming card game, Scrolls, was that customers would confuse it with The Elder Scrolls, and given that Dragon Shout is solely focused on Skyrim, the same logic could be applied: users might naturally assume that the app is the work of the game's creators. It should be noted, too, that the app's full title is given on iTunes as Dragon Shout For Skyrim (http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/dragon-shout-for-skyrim/id483488468?mt=8), drawing a clear line between it and Bethesda's sprawling RPG.
Last month ZeniMax filed a number of trademarks in a bid to shore up its ownership of Skryim's signature dragon shout, 'Fus Ro Dah' (http://www.edge-online.com/filter/all/tags/1060), presumably with the intent of cracking down on the array of unofficial Skyrim merchandise available on the internet, much of which riffs on the phrase.
http://www.edge-online.com/news/skyrim-map-maker-hit-copyright-notice