Microsoft Sues Mod Makers

Today Microsoft announced that they are pursuing legal action against the developers of a "mod," or modification, for the online team game Tribes 2. The suit names z0dd and ZOD as defendants, taking issue with the name of the extremely popular "base++" mod.

"It's a matter of protecting our trademarks," said an unnamed Microsoft attorney. "At issue is the use of the 'plus-plus' suffix, which infringes on previous trademarks used by Microsoft in the programming languages C++ and J++. In a recent interview, one of the defendants said, and I quote, 'Yes, it's a rather boring and unimaginative name. It comes from the programming language C++.' Case closed."

Several former Dynamix employees, developers of both Tribes and Tribes 2, filed an affidavit on behalf of the defendants. "There was the 'base-plus' mod we developed for Tribes 1," said Diamondback. "This is like a natural extension of our work. It makes perfect sense and doesn't seem like infringement at all."

The Microsoft lawyer wasn't fazed by the support of Tribes 2 developers and fans. "We have a history of taking action to protect our intellectual property," said the attorney. "I only have one thing to say to the defendants: Where do you want to go to jail today?"