Bethesda’s long running and well documented battle with Interplay over the rights of a potential MMO based on the Fallout property has finally reached it’s conclusion.
All intellectual property rights to the Fallout name now lie with Bethesda, making Interplay’s license to make a Fallout MMO null and void, effective immediately. The settlement see’s Bethesda’s parent company Zenimax pay Interpay $2 million as part of the suit, with each party agreeing to cover their own legal costs.
Interplay – original creators of the Fallout brand before selling it to Bethesda in 1997 – will be allowed to sell the original Fallout Tactics, Fallout and Fallout 2 PC games until December 2013. Following that date, all market rights for those titles then become the sole property of Bethesda.
“While we strongly believe in the merits of our suits, we are pleased to avoid the distraction and expense of litigation while completely resolving all claims to the Fallout IP,” commented ZeniMax CEO Robert Altman.
“Fallout is an important property of ZeniMax and we are now able to develop future Fallout titles for our fans without third party involvement or the overhang of others’ legal claims.”
[Source]
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