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2026-11-09

A Word and a Patent

Blocks and Billions
Blocks and Billions@Maria Khan
A Word and a Patent

In the first week of August, 2011, Markus Persson told his followers about a letter. It had come from the lawyers of Bethesda Softworks, the publisher behind Fallout and The Elder Scrolls. The letter said the name of Mojang's next game infringed their trademark.

0:00 / 15:46
Minecraft's first years as a hit product were partly spent inside two lawsuits, and neither of them was ever priced in public. One was over a word: a card game called Scrolls, and a publisher that said the name came too close to The Elder Scrolls. The other was over the licence check in the Android version of Minecraft. Neither fight was about anything Mojang had written.

The story in short

Mojang announced its second game on 2 March 2011. Jakob Porsér, one of the founders, posted it on the studio's website: a card game, built with a board game's bones, called Scrolls. 1
Five months later a letter arrived from Bethesda Softworks, whose parent company ZeniMax owns The Elder Scrolls. Persson announced it himself, in a tweet, on the same day Minecraft passed three million copies sold. "Just got a letter from Bethesta's lawyers. They claim 'Scrolls' infringes on their trademark and everyone will confuse it with Skyrim." 2
Forbes, reconstructing the sequence afterwards, said the case began after Mojang filed an application to register the name. The application is what puts a mark in a public register, and it is what gives an existing holder a window to object. 3
On 17 August 2011, Persson answered with a blog post titled "Hey, Bethesda! Let's settle this!" He proposed a three-on-three match of Quake 3: if Mojang won, the lawsuit would be dropped; if Bethesda won, Mojang would change the name. "I am serious, by the way," he wrote. 4 The case went to a Swedish court in late September 2011. In the third week of October the court refused ZeniMax's request for an interim injunction, which let Mojang keep using the name while the case ran. A lawyer quoted by Forbes said an interim injunction is decided on a lower standard than a full trial, so failing to get one was a bad sign for the plaintiff's case. It was not a ruling on who was right. 5
Minecraft 1.0 shipped on 18 November 2011, at MineCon in Las Vegas, with the lawsuit still open. 6 The settlement came on 10 March 2012, announced by managing director Carl Manneh on Mojang's own site. Mojang kept the name and gave up the trademark. 7 ZeniMax's statement, reported that week, added the clause that mattered: the mark was licensed to Mojang "solely in conjunction with its existing Scrolls digital card game and any add-on material," and the terms barred Mojang from using it "for any sequel to the current card game, or any other video game." 3
Eleven months later, on 20 July 2012, a company called Uniloc filed against Mojang in the Eastern District of Texas. 8 The claim was patent infringement: US patent 6,857,067, "System and method for preventing unauthorized access to electronic data," granted in 2005, covering the licensing check that decides whether a paying user gets in. 9 Ten companies were named in the same week, including Electronic Arts, Gameloft and Square Enix, and the complaint spelled the game's name "Mindcraft." 10
That case was closed on 31 August 2016, with the recorded basis for termination listed as a likely settlement and no terms ever published. 8 The disputed name fared worse than the case did. Scrolls reached a closed alpha in July 2012, went on sale in an open beta in June 2013, and released on 11 December 2014. Mojang stopped developing it in June 2015, shut its servers in February 2018, and re-released it free under a new name, Caller's Bane, on 20 June 2018. 11 In September 2020 Microsoft bought ZeniMax Media, which means both sides of the 2011 argument ended up under one owner. 12

The timeline you hear

DateWhat happened
2 March 2011Jakob Porsér announces Scrolls on Mojang's site as the studio's next game. 1
Early August 2011Bethesda's lawyers send a cease-and-desist over The Elder Scrolls; Persson announces it on Twitter the same week Minecraft passes three million copies. 2
17 August 2011Persson publishes "Hey, Bethesda! Let's settle this!" and challenges ZeniMax to a three-on-three Quake 3 match. 4
Late September 2011The dispute goes to court in Sweden. 5
18 October 2011A Swedish court refuses ZeniMax's request for an interim injunction; Mojang keeps using the name. 5
18 November 2011Minecraft 1.0 releases at MineCon with the case still open. 6
10 March 2012Mojang announces the settlement: the name stays, the trademark goes. 7
12–16 March 2012ZeniMax's statement confirms the mark was licensed for that one game and add-ons only, with sequels barred. 3
20 July 2012Uniloc files a patent suit against Mojang in the Eastern District of Texas over US 6,857,067. 8
11 December 2014Scrolls leaves beta and releases properly. 11
June 2015Mojang stops developing Scrolls. 11
31 August 2016The patent case closes, recorded as a likely settlement, terms unpublished. 8
20 June 2018The game returns free as Caller's Bane. 11
21 September 2020Microsoft agrees to buy ZeniMax Media, owner of Bethesda. 12

The numbers behind the episode

Three million copies. The cease-and-desist landed in the same week Minecraft passed three million sales, which is the week a legal threat is most expensive. 2
Seven months. From the August 2011 letter to the 10 March 2012 settlement. In that window Mojang also shipped Minecraft 1.0. Neither company has ever published what the fight cost in legal fees. 7
Ten companies in one week. Uniloc named Mojang alongside Electronic Arts, Gameloft and Square Enix, among others, over the same patent for authorising paid users. 10
Close to eighty. The number of companies Ars Technica counted Uniloc as having sued by July 2012, including Microsoft, Sony and Adobe. 9
$388 million. A 2009 jury verdict against Microsoft over a different Uniloc patent, later overturned on the damages calculation; the two settled in March 2012, four months before Mojang was named. 9
1,503 days. The patent case's recorded duration, from 20 July 2012 to 31 August 2016 — roughly four years, and twenty-three months past Microsoft's purchase of Mojang. 8

Quotes you hear

"Just got a letter from Bethesta's lawyers. They claim 'Scrolls' infringes on their trademark and everyone will confuse it with Skyrim." — Markus Persson, 5 August 2011 2
"If we win, you drop the lawsuit. If you win, we will change the name of Scrolls to something you're fine with." — Markus Persson, 17 August 2011 4
"Nobody here enjoys being forced into this. Hopefully it will all be resolved soon." — Pete Hines, Bethesda, before negotiations 13
"We have settled the lawsuit over Scrolls and Mojang and Bethesda are friends again. To answer the big question, yes, Scrolls is still going to be called Scrolls. To answer the second question, we aren't going to keep the trademark." — Carl Manneh, Mojang, 10 March 2012 7
"The actual document I signed was like a billion pages, so at least we know a bunch of lawyers got rich. Good, wouldn't want them to starve." — Markus Persson, 10 March 2012 13
"If needed, I will throw piles of money at making sure they don't get a cent. Software patents are plain evil." — Markus Persson, July 2012 10
"I am not a patent troll. I am the inventor of the 216 patent. I worked nearly two decades to make the technology a success." — Ric Richardson, Uniloc's founder, July 2012 14

One claim the episode does not make

You will hear that Mojang beat Bethesda. The record is narrower, and the difference is the useful part. A Swedish court refused ZeniMax's request to stop Mojang using the name while the case proceeded; that is a ruling on urgency and probable grounds, not on who owned what. 5 What Mojang then got, in the settlement, was permission to use one word on one game, at the price of the trademark itself and any future use of the name. 3
Two more things stay labelled. Nobody has published what either case cost in legal fees, so this episode puts no price on them. And the patent case's ending is recorded only as a likely settlement: the docket shows the date it closed, not what was agreed. 8

References

  1. 1
    Mojang — Introducing our New Game: Scrolls, 2 March 2011

    web.archive.org

  2. 2
    PC Gamer — Bethesda claim Mojang's "Scrolls" infringes on Skyrim trademark, 5 August 2011

    pcgamer.com

  3. 3
    Forbes — Bethesda and Mojang settle 'Scrolls' lawsuit, 16 March 2012

    forbes.com

  4. 4
    The Word of Notch — Hey, Bethesda! Let's settle this!, 17 August 2011

    blog.omniarchive.net

  5. 5
    Forbes — Mojang wins the first round of Scrolls lawsuit with Bethesda, 20 October 2011

    forbes.com

  6. 6
    Minecraft Wiki — Java Edition 1.0.0

    minecraft.wiki

  7. 7
    Mojang — Scrolls will be Scrolls, 10 March 2012

    web.archive.org

  8. 8
    Patsnap — Uniloc USA et al. v. Mojang AB, case 6:12-cv-00470

    patsnap.com

  9. 9
    Ars Technica — Minecraft developer sued by aggressive litigator over DRM patent, 21 July 2012

    arstechnica.com

  10. 10
    BBC News — Minecraft creator sued over user controls, 23 July 2012

    bbc.com

  11. 11
    Wikipedia — Caller's Bane

    en.wikipedia.org

  12. 12
    Microsoft — Microsoft to acquire ZeniMax Media and its publisher Bethesda Softworks, 21 September 2020

    news.microsoft.com

  13. 13
    PC Gamer

    pcgamer.com

  14. 14
    Eurogamer

    eurogamer.net

Blocks and Billions
Blocks and Billions@Maria Khan

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