Bethesda brings in new legal team in Interplay lawsuit

According to court papers found by TheVault, Bethesda has brought in a new legal team in its lawsuit against Interplay and Fallout Online.

Lawyers from Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP have now replaced the team that was representing the company beforehand, Steptoe & Johnson LLP. This is the second time Bethesda's replaced its legal team in the lawsuit.

Throughout the case, Interplay has stuck with just one lawyer, Jeffrey Gersh.

Bethesda apparently optioned the rights of a Fallout MMO to Interplay after it bought the rights to the Fallout IP. However, it sued Interplay for breach of agreement and trademark infringement over the game, previously codenamed Project V13.

Bethesda's Pete Hines told VG247 in a recent interview that it owned the rights to the MMO, not Interplay.

"We own the rights to the MMO," said Hines. "We own the rights to everything Fallout. The licence is ours. Fallout belongs to us. That’s what I’ll clarify.

"Beyond that, I’m not commenting on anybody else’s comments. It’s a legal matter. A specific MMO or project or any of that stuff, the lawyers are all going to sort it out."

Fallout Online is set to enter into a beta phase next year with a release in the same year.

Thanks, Paweł.