Interplay vs. Bethesda, Continued

There's seemingly no end in sight on the legal turmoil between Interplay and Bethesda Softworks, as Joystiq reports that Bethesda's appeal against the court's decision to deny a preliminary injunction against Interplay has, well, been denied. And that means that Interplay may continue to reference and use the characters, storyline, environments, and other Fallout-related elements in Fallout Online, at least for the time being:
United States Court of Appeals documents show that Bethesda's aim was to show "the district court abused its discretion and misapplied the law in concluding that Bethesda failed to establish a likelihood of irreparable harm." And while the property owner continued to delve into fears over Interplay's suspect financial stability (a potential source of said irreparable harm), today's outcome similarly found Bethesda's claims unconvincing.

The legal saga is still far from over, as Bethesda and Interplay must still settle their polluted licensing relationship and come to a conclusion regarding the possible release of Interplay's work -- which may continue for now, but still requires "express permission" from Bethesda to launch.