Kenzodielocke
Banned
It has nothing to do with your game. This is just bullcrap.
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Bethesda Stopped 3 Men Indie Team From Using "Prey" in Their Game Title
- Thread starter NeoRaider
- Start date
flaxknuckles
Member
Same. I won't reward Bethesda for their fuckery.
RichiRamjag
Member
I took it to mean that you were prey for the gods.
franklyshankly
Member
Lol. Changing to "Praey" doesn't even do them any good. The standard for trademark infringement is "likelihood of confusion" and it is trivially easy to argue that Prey and Praey both with the same pronunciation are still likely to be confused.
Lister
Banned
Only when it's true infringement though.
This isn't that. No one is going to confuse an indie game called "Prey for the Gods", that won't come out for a logn while yet, with the AAA game "Prey".
There is room for both here, and I'm pretty sure they'd win a case against them. The problem is, winning still costs money AND even if you have a good chance of winnign, you may not, depends on your lawyers ability to argue your case and the judge. I wish people abusing trademarks like this could be made to pay the other's attorney fees.
leandrochiarello
Member
Day one purchase.
Vital Tundra
Member
Fuck off!
Grim Patron
Member
No pc demo and now this. Smh Beth.
franklyshankly
Member
The standard isn't actual confusion, it is "likelihood of confusion." And two products sold in exactly the same class of goods and services (video games), on the same online stores, which both feature as a predominant portion of the mark the word "Prey" could well be likely to confuse. As always, these issues aren't as cut and dry as many would like.
Dreamwriter
Member
That's a fake excuse that a lot of companies give to make people think they aren't being evil just to be evil. It is true that they need to defend their trademarks, but only against actual real cases where confusion could be possible or someone is purposely infringing maliciously. There is nobody who would ever confuse the game "Prey" for the game "Prey for the Gods" - that is not a likely situation, so this isn't a case where they need to defend their trademark.
infinit777
Member
Zenimax, stop preying on the little guys
Lister
Banned
You're right, the standard is more loosely defined as likelihood. So the case could relaly go either way, depending on what the judge ends up believing, even though I think likelihood of confusion is still pretty damn low.
That's the problem witht he whole thing though.
Zenimax knows that the number of sales of "Prey" lost to this game simply for having the misfortune of using that word in the title, IF ANY, is going to be tiny at max.
They also know that these guys can't defend themseleves.
They are bullies.
Lister
Banned
I'm actually leaning this way too. Guess what Zenimax/Bethesda, I'm going to go and buy a copy of "PREY for the gods" and I'm skipping your game.
Combined with the handful of people you've pissed off on this thread alone, you've probably lost more sales than if you had left these devs alone.
Darkstorne
Member
Not quite. The messed up thing is if they don't defend this then a more malicious infringement in the future can point to this as an example of Bethesda not really caring about the trademark.
I know gamers love to grab their pitchforks about these trademark disputes, but it really is a problem with the trademark laws first and foremost.
FantasticMrFoxdie
Mumber
hah not gonna lie. I saw the Prey for the Gods KS OT on front page and thought it was the Prey OT with a joke title until i noticed the |KS|
This is scummy and petty. Eff off zenimax bethesda
This is scummy and petty. Eff off zenimax bethesda
BananasWithGuns
Member
Wow...that's really shitty.
I mean if they were similar genres or styles then maybe I could understand but these two games are nothing alike.
Not a good look for Beth/Zeni.
I mean if they were similar genres or styles then maybe I could understand but these two games are nothing alike.
Not a good look for Beth/Zeni.
Remembrance
Member
This part of the OP needs to be highlighted.
No Matter Studios (the indie team) applied to register "Prey of the Gods" as a trademark of their own. When you do that, you opt into a 30-day window where anyone else can file legal proceedings against you because they have a problem with your trademark.
So they decided to make use of the trademark system for themselves, and all the good and bad that comes with it, before Zenimax even came into the picture.
Plus they already hired trademark lawyers - who should have been able to spot the problem and warn them well in advance.
No Matter Studios (the indie team) applied to register "Prey of the Gods" as a trademark of their own. When you do that, you opt into a 30-day window where anyone else can file legal proceedings against you because they have a problem with your trademark.
So they decided to make use of the trademark system for themselves, and all the good and bad that comes with it, before Zenimax even came into the picture.
Plus they already hired trademark lawyers - who should have been able to spot the problem and warn them well in advance.
CamHostage
Member
That's the division of argument there. Prey is such a simple word (and although it's uncommon in videogames, it's an entertainment form with a lot of hunting and stalking and killing and so it's odd that it's used so little as it is,) but then Halo is so indistinguishable from Master Chief adventures that another game would have to be quite different to remove itself (and even if it were different, the simple connection that they're both videogames might actually make some confusion or even clickthrough on a digital storefront, even though it'd only be morons who bought without looking at the vastly-different games.) The Uncharted Waters franchise outdates the Uncharted franchise, but if Koei made another one, it'd be important for them to work with Sony to be sure the brands are distinctly identifiable. (And/or would Sony have to take the hardline stance of fighting for their exclusive rights to a trademark, even if they came late to the "Uncharted" game?)
It probably is mostly morons who actually go through a purchase just on the name and nothing else, but how many of us bought Secret of Evermore as kids because it was a SquareSoft game with "Secret of" in the title and we just loved Mana?
I fantasize that some omnipotential moneygod would come and somehow make it so (through bribery or otherwise)that they Bethesda/Zenimax couldn't use the word "fallout" and "scrolls" in any of their games, just to spite them.
Thing is, with Prey they propably need all the help they can get since I suspect it will suffer the same financial "success" as the other latest immersive games.
Thing is, with Prey they propably need all the help they can get since I suspect it will suffer the same financial "success" as the other latest immersive games.
Tinfoilhatsron
Banned
Yeah I just got this in my inbox.
jacksepticeye
Member
Met these guys in Seattle at PAX and they're incredibly kind and passionate about what they're making so I hope this sort of legal stuff doesn't deter that passion and put a damper on things.
They have a point. One time I asked my friend to bring over his copy of Super Smash Brothers Melee. Took us two whole hours of playing the game to realise that we weren't playing the fun 4-player party game we had hoped for, but the emotion single-player experience Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons instead.
Don't get me started on The Last of Us and The Last Guardian. Replayed the former recently and I was wondering why the boy looked so old and why he was calling his companion Ellie instead of Trico.
Don't get me started on The Last of Us and The Last Guardian. Replayed the former recently and I was wondering why the boy looked so old and why he was calling his companion Ellie instead of Trico.
Vyse The Legend
Member
Not Bethesda. It's Zenimax, and they are notoriously ligitious.
moltonasty
Member
This is ironic considering someone should've stopped Bethesda from calling their new game "Prey"..
Son Of Sparda
Member
Hahaha
Fuck off, Bethesda.
Fuck off, Bethesda.