The legal back-and-forth between Interplay and Bethesda continues, as No Mutants Allowed has received some recent (6th of June) filings including some interesting claims.
One is a filing by Bethesda, where they again request a temporary injunction to stop Interplay from developing Fallout Online, the last request having been dismissed. Bethesda repeats its claim that Interplay only has the right to use the Fallout name. Most of it is spent on that, but some added claims include the note that Interplay's most recent 10-K does not point to it having fulfilled its obligations:<blockquote>Interplay’s Form 10-K also confirms that Interplay has failed to satisfy the “Full-Scale Development” and “Minimum Financing” requirements of the TLA. Interplay’s Form 10-K shows that for 2009, when Interplay was supposed to be in “Full-Scale Development” of its Fallout MMOG, Interplay spent only $279,000 on game development activities for all of its products combined.
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Interplay’s Form 10-K likewise confirms that Interplay is financially broke and has secured no financing for its development activities, let alone the $30 million in financing required by the TLA.</blockquote>Bethesda further claims "Interplay has no right to transfer or sub-license its rights under the TLA", and thus its contract with Masthead is breaking the contract.
To further spice up their claims, Bethesda takes note of Fallout Online's website, not around on their previous claim:<blockquote>Interplay also has reproduced and distributed, and continues to reproduce and distribute, Bethesda’s copyrighted works (and/or their derivatives) to the public at large through the web site www.fallout-on-line.com. The flash animation and content of this website include infringing copies of Bethesda’s copyrighted works, including copyrighted character art such as “Vault Boy” and weapons art such as “Brother of Steel Power Armor.” The animation’s opening sequence with the “Please Stand By” test pattern is copied from the opening scene of Bethesda’s Fallout 3 game. The carvings on the desk of “The Master Lives” and “♥Harold” depicted in the animation are plain and clear references to “The Master” and “Harold,” characters from the backstory of the previous Fallout games.</blockquote>And the money quote: Bethesda claiming Interplay is planning to undermine their work:<blockquote>Although it is unnecessary for establishing the requirements for preliminary injunctive relief, Interplay intends to use Bethesda’s copyrighted materials with the intent to undermine Bethesda’s reputation and the reputation of Bethesda’s award-winning Fallout 3 game. The original Fallout game takes place circa 2161, on the west coast of the United States, in a postapocalyptic world destroyed eighty-five years earlier by nuclear war. Fallout 2 also is set on the west coast of the United States and takes place approximately 80 years after Fallout (c. 2241). When Bethesda created Fallout 3, Bethesda continued the post-apocalyptic tradition of Fallout and Fallout 2. However, Bethesda set the game on the east coast of the United States approximately 35 years after Fallout 2 and 200 years after the nuclear war (c. 2277). Documents recently produced by Interplay reveal that Interplay intends to REDACTED . This places the Fallout MMOG story line REDACTED . Interplay’s documents show that, in its Fallout MMOG, Interplay intends to REDACTED . Specifically, Interplay’s documents state: REDACTED
In other words, Interplay intends to use the copyrighted Fallout artwork and backstory, which is undisputedly owned by Bethesda, to undermine the plot-line of Bethesda’s awardwinning Fallout 3 game. Obviously, this is intended to harm Bethesda’s reputation and that of the Fallout 3 game. Game players who follow the Fallout history will be confused and confounded by the sequence of events created by Interplay in its MMOG. For the Court’s convenience, the pertinent sections of the Interplay documents quoted above are reproduced in the images below.
One is a filing by Bethesda, where they again request a temporary injunction to stop Interplay from developing Fallout Online, the last request having been dismissed. Bethesda repeats its claim that Interplay only has the right to use the Fallout name. Most of it is spent on that, but some added claims include the note that Interplay's most recent 10-K does not point to it having fulfilled its obligations:<blockquote>Interplay’s Form 10-K also confirms that Interplay has failed to satisfy the “Full-Scale Development” and “Minimum Financing” requirements of the TLA. Interplay’s Form 10-K shows that for 2009, when Interplay was supposed to be in “Full-Scale Development” of its Fallout MMOG, Interplay spent only $279,000 on game development activities for all of its products combined.
(...)
Interplay’s Form 10-K likewise confirms that Interplay is financially broke and has secured no financing for its development activities, let alone the $30 million in financing required by the TLA.</blockquote>Bethesda further claims "Interplay has no right to transfer or sub-license its rights under the TLA", and thus its contract with Masthead is breaking the contract.
To further spice up their claims, Bethesda takes note of Fallout Online's website, not around on their previous claim:<blockquote>Interplay also has reproduced and distributed, and continues to reproduce and distribute, Bethesda’s copyrighted works (and/or their derivatives) to the public at large through the web site www.fallout-on-line.com. The flash animation and content of this website include infringing copies of Bethesda’s copyrighted works, including copyrighted character art such as “Vault Boy” and weapons art such as “Brother of Steel Power Armor.” The animation’s opening sequence with the “Please Stand By” test pattern is copied from the opening scene of Bethesda’s Fallout 3 game. The carvings on the desk of “The Master Lives” and “♥Harold” depicted in the animation are plain and clear references to “The Master” and “Harold,” characters from the backstory of the previous Fallout games.</blockquote>And the money quote: Bethesda claiming Interplay is planning to undermine their work:<blockquote>Although it is unnecessary for establishing the requirements for preliminary injunctive relief, Interplay intends to use Bethesda’s copyrighted materials with the intent to undermine Bethesda’s reputation and the reputation of Bethesda’s award-winning Fallout 3 game. The original Fallout game takes place circa 2161, on the west coast of the United States, in a postapocalyptic world destroyed eighty-five years earlier by nuclear war. Fallout 2 also is set on the west coast of the United States and takes place approximately 80 years after Fallout (c. 2241). When Bethesda created Fallout 3, Bethesda continued the post-apocalyptic tradition of Fallout and Fallout 2. However, Bethesda set the game on the east coast of the United States approximately 35 years after Fallout 2 and 200 years after the nuclear war (c. 2277). Documents recently produced by Interplay reveal that Interplay intends to REDACTED . This places the Fallout MMOG story line REDACTED . Interplay’s documents show that, in its Fallout MMOG, Interplay intends to REDACTED . Specifically, Interplay’s documents state: REDACTED
In other words, Interplay intends to use the copyrighted Fallout artwork and backstory, which is undisputedly owned by Bethesda, to undermine the plot-line of Bethesda’s awardwinning Fallout 3 game. Obviously, this is intended to harm Bethesda’s reputation and that of the Fallout 3 game. Game players who follow the Fallout history will be confused and confounded by the sequence of events created by Interplay in its MMOG. For the Court’s convenience, the pertinent sections of the Interplay documents quoted above are reproduced in the images below.
