Interplay v. Bethesda - not ending anytime soon

[King of Creation]

<strong>[ Company -> Update ]</strong> - More info on <a href="http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Bethesda v. Interplay">Company: Bethesda v. Interplay</a> | More info on <a href="http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Project V13">Game: Project V13</a>

<p>Duck and Cover has obtained the filing schedule for the upcoming year in the Interplay v. Bethesda court case. Suffice it to say that we won't see an end to the case anytime this year, unless the two parties settle out of court. Here's the breakdown:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>Motion(s) for Joinder of Parties and Amendment of Pleadings to be filed by: February 28, 2010
Requests for Production and Interrogatories to Parties to be served by:1 March 30, 2010
Third Party Discovery to be taken by: July 2, 2010
Fact Depositions to be taken by: July 16, 2010
Rule 26(a)(2) Expert Witness Disclosure to be served by: August 13, 2010
Rule 26(a) (2) Expert witness depositions to be taken by: September 30, 2010
Requests for Admission to be served by: October 8, 2010
Rebuttal Expert Report(s) to be served by: October 22, 2010
Rebuttal Expert depositions to be taken by: November 19, 2010
Summary Judgment(s) Motions to filed on or before: December 3, 2010
Bethesda to circulate draft pretrial order: December 10, 2010
Interplay to comment on draft pretrial order: December 17, 2010
File draft pretrial order to be filed by: December 30, 2010</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>I'm not a lawyer, those last few lines say "pretrial." So does that mean the actual "trial" isn't going to take place in 2010? Whether by intention or not, Betheda could be effectively killing Interplay's <em>Fallout</em> MMO with time. By the time the trial is finished, the tech that Interplay is building <em>PV13</em> on could become old and unmarketable.</p>

[Kashluk]

I think the pretrial process exists to make sure there's actually enough reason to go to the 'real' trial in the first place. They set the documentations and facts straight etc. My guess is that Interplay's case isn't as solid as it's been said to be, so the defence will probably crumble in the pretrials and then they're willing to negotiate.

[Cimmerian Nights]

<p>I'm not a lawyer, those last few lines say "pretrial." So does that mean the actual "trial" isn't going to take place in 2010? Whether by intention or not, Betheda could be effectively killing Interplay's <em>Fallout</em> MMO with time. By the time the trial is finished, the tech that Interplay is building <em>PV13</em> on could become old and unmarketable.</p>

I don't know, the longer you let Herve hang around, the more dangerous he is. How many times have we thought he/Interplay was dead and buried and he came back from the grave unfazed?

[inomel]

The way this seems to be going, this isn't 1/20th of what's going on. This thumb wrestling will probably help Fallout remain a hot property.

[Dr.Xen]

Pretrail:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-trial#Pre-trial

And I believe the game will delay to 2013

[orionquest]

<p>I'm not a lawyer, those last few lines say "pretrial." So does that mean the actual "trial" isn't going to take place in 2010? Whether by intention or not, Betheda could be effectively killing Interplay's <em>Fallout</em> MMO with time. By the time the trial is finished, the tech that Interplay is building <em>PV13</em> on could become old and unmarketable.</p>

And that is why Interplay actually has a case against Bethesda as long as they stay focused to pursuit of material harm.

Interplay just had another filing( rebutting Bethesda) that actually has a couple of minor grammatical errors.

Aside from a couple of minor grammatical errors in the beginning, Gersh basically substantiated all the points I previously mentioned against Bethesda's recent filing.

Bethesda's appeal filing reeks from repetitive and useless piling on. They know they're going to lose the appeal. They have not changed a single thing about their appeal. It's almost like they think a different lawyer can argue the same case better when the Judge clearly told them that they have no case as far the the back catalog Fallout IP is concerned.

Gersh just filed telling them that You cannot do that even if your intent is to lawyer someone to death. they needed to bring new things to argue to the case. They brought nothing. The judge is going to see right through their ruse.

Gersh needs to clarify that those wanting to fund the MMO are not interested in funding litigation and therefore that would explain why the expense of the litigation is tortuous.

Bethesda's winning of their argument would disprove their own case since they are claiming that they are not seeking to cause material harm to Interplay but in fact winning it would be materially harmful since continuous lawyer expenses may run a million or more.

They're not going to be able to argue their way around that one and in fact may not want a Fallout MMO to come out at all.

Now for a company with a deficit and little cash on books, one of the ways Interplay could be funding the lawyers is directly through Herve and the directors and or promising share issuance provided that the Lawyers win.

If I were smart, I would approach it from an added stock option basis in order to provide motivation for the Lawyers since an Interplay win would mean a windfall for them while a Bethesda win would only pay the lawyers their hourly wages.

Bethesda has a lead Lawyer who was/is doing buying/selling homes he was involved in remodeling in the Middle Atlantic Area.

The key for Interplay's keeping the MMO is to prove that Bethesda violated the MMO part of the contract first and they already have that evidence submitted to that effect in Bethesda's over the line/draconian Trademark rights enforcement that prevented Interplay from even advertising Fallout MMO on their web site.

Bethesda's stepping over the line there is the precedent for nullifying the contract.

Bethesda's pursuit of taking away back catalog sales via a Trademark rights angle is superfluous in its proof of Bethesda's malice.

Bethesda is literally convicting themselves by bring this case up in including the MMO and the back catalog sales. They would have had a better case if they only brought up the MMO but the fact that they brought up the back catalog rights is proof of their bad faith dealings which is crucial since they have a contract with Interplay and bad faith/malicious behavior is grounds for tearing up the contract.

As an Interplay shareholder, although the monotonous waiting is unnerving at times due to the continual lawyer tit for tat and waiting in between, I am glad that Bethesda's tactics are coming to the light for the whole world to see.

Losing this case would expose Bethesda for what they really are: a soulless corporate entity with only one motive: generating profits at all cost even at the expense of the art of game making.

This kind of tactic does not fool consumers forever, even the dumbed down ones.

[ekkaman]