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Bethesda sues Interplay
By Michael | September 14, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Bethesda has decided to sue Interplay over “perceived misuses” of the Fallout franchise. They claim Interplay has caused “immediate, substantial, and irreparable harm.” Welcome to the last 10 years ago Bethesda…According to Gamasutra, Bethesda, filed a complaint in the US District Court of Maryland calling for a halt on Interplay’s production and distribution of the original Fallout Trilogy, Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics.
While Interplay still holds permission to sell the older titles, Bethesda claims Interplay has failed to seek approval for, among other things, advertising and packaging. Bethesda is claiming that this has lead to market confusion and leading people to believe the older titles customers are buying are actually Fallout 3. Bethesda is also asserting that licensing the original Fallout titles to the digital distribution sites Steam and GOG.com is a further breach of the contract.
Bethesda and Interplay signed an agreement in 2007 where Bethesda bought the rights to the Fallout series, becoming its sole owner. The agreement also licensed the Fallout MMO rights back to Interplay for, as long as they had begun full-scale development of the game by April 4, 2009 and raise $30 million for development costs. Bethesda is also attempting to revoke the MMO license as, in their opinion, Interplay has failed to live up to their obligations.
Source: Edge