Bethesda – Interplay slap fight continues

The legal bickering between Bethesda Softworks and Interplay soldiers on, as today Interplay filed for legal fees against Bethesda.  Here’s the full legalese for the aspirant litigators among our readers:

Pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 54 and Rule 109.2 of the Local Rules of the United States Disctrict Court for the District of Maryland, Defendant/Counter-Claimant Interplay Entertainment Corp. (“Interplay”), hereby moves the Court for an award of the attorney fees and expenses that it incurred in successfully defending against the Motion for Preliminary Injunctions (the “Motion”) filed against it by Plaintiff/Counter-Defendant Bethesda Softworks, LLC, (“Bethesda”).

Interplay is looking for a total of $9,539.38 from Bethesda, which is a modest sum as legal fees go.  A complete breakdown of the sum reveals a meticulous accounting of all expenses involved, though Interplay notes they may add more expenses in the coming days.

• Travel Expenses for Herve Caen and the 2 lawyers: $3,901.32
• Deposition of James Leder, COO of Bethesda: $3,525.00
• Online Legal Research: $1,686.40
• Overnight mail to Court and Opposition Counsel: $225.76
• Postage: $2.40
• Photocopy Charges: $197.50

This is the latest development in an ongoing lawsuit over the Fallout IP.  Interplay claims they retained the rights to sell pre-Fallout 3 packages and to develop the Fallout MMO when they sold the IP to Bethesda, but Bethesda claims that Interplay must “submit to Bethesda all relevant packaging, advertising, and promotional material prior to bringing the catalog titles to market.”  Most recently, Bethesda filed a preliminary injunction against Interplay in an attempt to halt their sales of Fallout packages before the original case came to court.  Though a judge denied this injunction, Interplay still weathered court costs that they are now seeking to recoup.

[Duck and Cover via Bluesnews]