35 replies to this topic

[James The Fox Dixon]

One Medic Army, on 14 November 2012 - 11:15 AM, said:

A decision was reached, and then they settled. It wasn't settled before a decision was reached.
The Japanese ruling, while giving hope to everyone who hates HG isn't yet relevant in the US.

As stated above the big issue is that HarmonyGold would sue the pants off of PGI if they tried anything with the unseen (and they already have) and I don't think PGI wants to spend the time/money defending themselves entails.

Sorry but you are off base since under the Berne Convention the Japanese Supreme Court's ruling takes precendence as to who owns what. They ruled that Studio Nue owns the designs while Tatsunoko only owns the rights to the series. Any contract in violation of the Berne Convention is null and void since it is copyright infringement. Berne Convention trumps prior decisions. Prior decisions are not iron clad neither since they can be overturned by a court at a later date. Prior court cases are called stare decisis and the court is under no obligation to follow prior rulings.

[One Medic Army]

And to decide that the Berne Convention trumps, the matter needs to go to court in the US, where such a decision will be reached.
That's expensive.
That's my point.

The US court probably would hopefully decide at the end of the day that the Berne Convention trumps the previous decision, but nobody has yet felt like spending the money to prove it in a US court of law.

Edited by One Medic Army, 14 November 2012 - 11:24 AM.

[James The Fox Dixon]

One Medic Army, on 14 November 2012 - 11:23 AM, said:

And to decide that the Berne Convention trumps, the matter needs to go to court in the US, where such a decision will be reached.
That's expensive.
That's my point.

Actually, under the Berne Convention it can go through any court of a country that is a signatory to. Japanese copyright law, in this case, takes precedence over US copyright law.

[Clay Pigeon]

One Medic Army, on 14 November 2012 - 11:23 AM, said:

And to decide that the Berne Convention trumps, the matter needs to go to court in the US, where such a decision will be reached.
That's expensive.
That's my point.

The US court probably would hopefully decide at the end of the day that the Berne Convention trumps the previous decision, but nobody has yet felt like spending the money to prove it in a US court of law.

PGI and IGP are both Canadian Companies. How would the US courts would have in persona jurisdiction over them?

[Riptor]

http://www.escapistm...sian-Revolution

In soviet russia... marauder revolutionizes you!

[Cant Get Right]

Anyone remember the OG Jetfire was a Robotech VF-1S?

[James The Fox Dixon]

Clay Pigeon, on 14 November 2012 - 11:26 AM, said:

PGI and IGP are both Canadian Companies. How would the US courts would have in persona jurisdiction over them?

They don't since it would have to go to a Canadian court and that court is bound by the Berne Convention as well. Either way, HG is going to lose.

[One Medic Army]

James The Fox Dixon, on 14 November 2012 - 11:28 AM, said:

They don't since it would have to go to a Canadian court and that court is bound by the Berne Convention as well. Either way, HG is going to lose.

And both companies will spend millions hiring lawyers for the proceedings.
The lawyers win, everyone else looses.
I personally would rather PGI spends their money developing the game.

[James The Fox Dixon]

One Medic Army, on 14 November 2012 - 11:31 AM, said:

And both companies will spend millions hiring lawyers for the proceedings.
The lawyers win, everyone else looses.
I personally would rather PGI spends their money developing the game.

You do not know what the costs for what a legal battle will be in Canada. The people that win are Studio Nue since it shuts down a company that is willfully violating their copyrights and profiting off of it. Last time I checked, stealing someone else's property was crime.

Edited by James The Fox Dixon, 14 November 2012 - 11:32 AM.

[Cant Get Right]

I sense a Denis Dyack moment coming on.

[One Medic Army]

Wikipedia]In both [url=" said:

Australia[/url] and Canada' date=' the losing side is ordered to pay the winning side's costs. This acts as a significant disincentive to bringing forward court cases. [b']Usually, the winning party is not able to recover from the losing party the full amount of his or her own solicitor's (attorney's) costs, and has to pay the shortfall out of his or her own pocket

[/b]

Edited by One Medic Army, 14 November 2012 - 11:35 AM.

[James The Fox Dixon]

One Medic Army, on 14 November 2012 - 11:34 AM, said:

[/b]

And that doesn't say anything about filing fees etc... At any rate, HG would be in a world of financial hurt by losing the case.

[shabowie]

One Medic Army, on 14 November 2012 - 11:15 AM, said:

A decision was reached, and then they settled. It wasn't settled before a decision was reached.

The decision you linked to wasn't a decision on the case it was a decision on a motion for a summary judgement.

The case never made it to court.

[Clay Pigeon]

One Medic Army, on 14 November 2012 - 11:07 AM, said:

Tell that to Harmony Gold, they've sued and won to keep pretty much every single Robotech/Macross related item produced in Japan from ever being sold in the US. All Robotech/Macross model kits, games, and new animated properties need to be bought internationally by US consumers.

[edit] Here's the text of the FASA vs HG court decision for anyone interested in the particulars.

That's just a denial of Defendant's motion for summary disposition.

ps: stop editting so much.

[StGrimblefig]

I vaguely remember a posting back in the day from someone at FASA, which was quickly removed. It alluded to the reason for the settlement being that even though HG was not going to win, they threatened to repeatedly sue FASA over different aspects of the case until FASA ran out of money and went out of business.

Remember, FASA was never a big company, and the game industry is not generally a financially lucrative business. HG had the money to follow through with the threat, but FASA did not have the money to withstand it. Even though FASA was legally in the right, they had no choice but to accept the settlement.

[Sayyid]

Random Numbers, on 14 November 2012 - 10:34 AM, said:

Radar X = Rifleman / Rifleman 2C
Kyron's Battlepod = Marauder

Rifleman is actually the Viggers/Chrauler ADR-04-Mk X Defender Anti-Aircraft Defense Robot

And one of my favorite heavy mechs


Crusader = Shinnakasu VF-1J GBP-1S "Armored" Valkyrie