This reminds me of a story about Herb Kelleher, one of the founders of Southwest Airlines.
One outrageous incident was his arm-wrestling showdown
with the CEO of Stevens Aviation in 1992. Both Stevens
and Southwest were using the advertising tagline "Plane
Smart." To settle the matter, Kelleher suggested an
arm-wrestling competition with the winner keeping the
rights to the slogan. Kelleher lost the match, but the
event generated so much good will and publicity that
Stevens let Southwest continue use of the tagline.
People like Notch continually prove and re-prove, to me, the fact that you don't need a huge company, 3 million patents, and an army of lawyers to make money.
Between things like this and his stance on piracy[1], it makes for a pleasant counterpoint to all the depressing stories on Techdirt.
It's incredible how Notch (the Minecraft creator) turned this lawsuit into a huge PR campaign.
The smartest thing Bethesda could do is accept his invitation. Make it big. Live broadcasting etc. There's so much to win for both companies, regardless of the actual outcome of the match.