Bethesda Softworks is, like, totally, “I ain’t playin’ wit’ you Interplay.” The studio responsible for the Elder Scrolls series is now suing developer Interplay for multiple breeches of the Fallout IP agreement.
A ton of legal stuff regarding the post-apocalyptic property is being requested and sought. According to Gamasutra (who obtained the official complaint filed on September 9th), Bethesda is seeking a “preliminary and permanent” injunction against Interplay’s sales of the older Fallout games. In addition to that, Bethesda wants the court to kill the licensing agreement between the two studios, thus preventing the release of the fabled Fallout MMO. Also, they’re asking for Interplay to pay up for all the “irreparable harm” and whatnot the studio caused Bethesda.
In summary, Bethesda wants to wear the Fallout daddy pants and control the IP because they believe Interplay screwed up on several levels.
This certainly isn’t the whole story. If you’re interested in all this legal junk beyond our quick hits version above, check out the Gamasutra article. It has a ton of in-depth information and several words I can’t pronounce. Also, it observes that whole “innocent until proven guilty” thing I hear about on Cops all the time.