Minecraft modder lost lawsuit and $350,000 - he tried to obtain Skyblock trademark rights
The enthusiast faced lawyers from Microsoft and several other companies.
Minecraft fans have noted the unsuccessful outcome of a modder's lawsuit against Microsoft and a number of other companies. The creator of the legendary Skyblock map tried to obtain trademark rights.
The modder, known as Noobcrew, created the Skyblock map at the age of 15 and developed the project for years. He turned to the community and spoke about his defeat in court:
Unfortunately, on May 11, the US Trademark Trial and Appeal Board issued a final decision in favor of Microsoft and eleven Minecraft Marketplace companies that opposed my Skyblock trademark application, which I originally filed in late 2019 […] The decision of the US Patent and Trademark Office was that “Skyblock” is merely a descriptive term for a type of gameplay in Minecraft, and not indicative of a single source. It was determined that a significant amount of evidence I presented did not support that the term had acquired distinctiveness exclusively associated with me (Noobcrew) or my platform.
The modder disagrees with the decision and noted that Mojang and Microsoft have for years promoted the idea of creating unique content and the belief that, in one form or another, what players create belongs to them:
Even the Minecraft End User License Agreement (EULA) still reinforces this concept. However, I believe the outcome of my case shows quite the opposite — that content creators do not actually own what they create.
According to Noobcrew, the decision in this case will only benefit companies that “profit from [modders'] content.”
Noobcrew said that in his efforts to protect trademark rights, he accumulated about $350,000 in legal debt. Now it will take him “many years” to recover from the financial consequences.
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