For over a year now, two companies have slugged it out in the courts, battling over the past - and in some cases future - of the Fallout franchise. This month, that battle took a slightly ridiculous turn.
Bethesda — who published both Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas, and who also own the rights to the franchise — claims that Interplay, the former owners of the brand, are violating all kinds of agreements with their development of a Fallout massively-multiplayer game.
Specifically, Bethesda believes that when Interplay was allowed to begin development of the Fallout MMO all the way back in 2007, all it was allowed to use was the name "Fallout" itself. That's it. No character art, no characters, nothing already established as an element of the Fallout universe, because Bethesda owns all that stuff.
A Fallout MMO in name only wouldn't be much of a Fallout MMO at all, would it?
More VaultLeaks: Bethesda claims IPLY could only use the Fallout name [Fallout Wiki]