The courtroom drama between Interplay and Bethesda continues this week. Joystiq is reporting that Fallout IP owner Bethesda has suffered another setback in their legal battle against Interplay over the Fallout Online MMOG license.

According to the story, Bethesda appealed the ruling of a district court that rejected their previous filing for a preliminary injunction against Interplay stating that, “the district court abused its discretion and misapplied the law in concluding that Bethesda failed to establish a likelihood of irreparable harm." Bethesda also argued that Interplay’s financial crisis could cause harm them harm if the developer entered into bankruptcy.

If Bethesda felt that the district court had abused its discretion they are probably feeling really violated right now since the United States Court of Appeals agreed with the earlier ruling and Bethesda’s claim was once again rejected.

The Fallout legal battle is a long way from over, but for now at least, Interplay can continue work on Fallout Online.  But the court document does state one other major hurdle that Interplay will have to jump if they want to bring Fallout Online to the market.  The document states that, “There can be no launch of an MMOG by Interplay without express permission from Bethesda.” Given how ugly and lengthy this legal fight has been, that could be one huge hurdle.

You can read the full court document at Joystiq.

Source: Joystiq