56 replies to this topic

[Mechwarrior Buddah]

James The Fox Dixon, on 19 April 2013 - 06:51 PM, said:

First off, the designs are still legal under tournament rules. If by that standard then anything not produced by FASA themselves is excluded which is pretty much every mech from the TRO 3025, TRO 2750, TRO 3050, etc... ie all early designs since they all came from different anime series. Harmony Gold does NOT own the designs and never did. Studio Nue owns the designs and the license FASA had with Studio Nue before HG got the license from Tatsunoko is valid unlike the one HG has.

Looks ,like HG disagrees with that and shows that disagreement with cease and decist declarations.
Isnt that WHY this is a MMO and not a single player game?

Edited by Mechwarrior Buddah, 19 April 2013 - 06:54 PM.

[James The Fox Dixon]

Mechwarrior Buddah, on 19 April 2013 - 06:53 PM, said:

Looks ,like HG disagrees with that and shows that disagreement with cease and decist declarations.

Of course HG will disagree with it, but then they were always evil and didn't care about ethics. They don't have a valid license and they know they don't have a valid license since the license from Tatsunoko was tossed out of court in the lawsuit between Tatsunoko and Studio Nue with Studio Nue owning the mech copyrights. You can't license something you don't own.

[Mechwarrior Buddah]

James The Fox Dixon, on 19 April 2013 - 06:56 PM, said:

Of course HG will disagree with it, but then they were always evil and didn't care about ethics. They don't have a valid license and they know they don't have a valid license since the license from Tatsunoko was tossed out of court in the lawsuit between Tatsunoko and Studio Nue with Studio Nue owning the mech copyrights. You can't license something you don't own.

um then I dont understand the argument... How can they issue CND when they dont legally own the rights and why does anyone give a **** when they issue said illegal CND?

Edited by Mechwarrior Buddah, 19 April 2013 - 07:01 PM.

[James The Fox Dixon]

Mechwarrior Buddah, on 19 April 2013 - 07:01 PM, said:

um then I dont understand the argument... How can they issue CND when they dont legally own the rights and why does anyone give a **** when they issue said illegal CND?

They do it because they can much like RIAA sends out cease and desist letters without having legal backing. Not many people are willing to stand up to them, but it takes just one to set HG straight once and for all. Since Japan and the US are signatories to the Berne Convention the Japanese Supreme Court ruling from 2006 in the Tatsunoko vs. Studio Nue's judgment can be admitted as evidence in court and the court will have no choice but to toss out the invalid license.

[Mechwarrior Buddah]

James The Fox Dixon, on 19 April 2013 - 07:05 PM, said:

They do it because they can much like RIAA sends out cease and desist letters without having legal backing. Not many people are willing to stand up to them, but it takes just one to set HG straight once and for all. Since Japan and the US are signatories to the Berne Convention the Japanese Supreme Court ruling from 2006 in the Tatsunoko vs. Studio Nue's judgment can be admitted as evidence in court and the court will have no choice but to toss out the invalid license.

Im guessing though its easier and cheaper just to give in to the bullyt than to turn around and kick him in the jimmies

[James The Fox Dixon]

Mechwarrior Buddah, on 19 April 2013 - 07:09 PM, said:

Im guessing though its easier and cheaper just to give in to the bullyt than to turn around and kick him in the jimmies

Depends on which state you're in. Some states have laws in effect that forces the company to pay the court costs for unlawful litigation.

[Karyudo ds]

Mechwarrior Buddah, on 19 April 2013 - 07:01 PM, said:

...and why does anyone give a **** when they issue said illegal CND?

Oddly enough not everyone even does. According to the FAQ MW5 turned into MWO due to license restrictions by MS which I could see them having but I remember when Yamato released it's first 1/60 VF-1 toys and some websites wanting to sell them did get CND's from HG as they seemed to think they owned SDF:Macross outside of Japan and this was after the ruling.

My 1/48 VF-J1 thinks otherwise.

On the other hand there's a Robotech tabletop game on kickstarter.

[Odinson]

I think it boils down to this:

Is the game making enough money to afford potential legal action/defense in the case of any kind of licensing dispute?

I mean, come on guys... this game is FREE to play. If you want some nice perks or quicker access to some things, sure you can pay money... but you don't HAVE to. So out of whatever PGI is making off this system they have to pay a development team, retain legal counsel, pay for servers and bandwidth... I mean, the game is still in BETA.

In case you haven't noticed, PGI got smart - as soon as they had a semi-functional product, they not only outsourced their QA to the player base, but have even convinced us to pay them for stuff while BETA TESTING their unfinished product.

Not that I'm saying that's bad... I'm out there tearing it up in my paint schemes I paid for, and my hero 'mech I paid for, so I'm not being negative about anyone who has payed PGI money, OR calling PGI crooks. What I'm saying is... THIS is part of how they are continuing to fund developing this game, so someday we actually DO get a finished product.

SO, like most people developing something do, they are releasing information about the final features of the game VERY slowly, because some of this stuff has been brainstormed, and maybe even set up on a timeline, but hasn't actually been even roughly implemented yet.

I predict we can see a release of Unseen/Reseen 'Mechs after whatever point the game goes live as a "finished" product AND shows enough profitability to deal with whatever legal issues are involved in licensing them (which, not being a lawyer, especially not one with a background in international law, I have NO idea what they could be, but it looks like a potentially nasty snarl).

I'm just happy to be getting to play a modernized Mechwarrior game with great 'Mech designs, slick visuals and actual LIVE opponents for free.

I can't say it enough times, it makes me giddy every time I do...
freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Edited by Odinson, 19 April 2013 - 08:21 PM.

[Mechwarrior Buddah]

James The Fox Dixon, on 19 April 2013 - 07:13 PM, said:

Depends on which state you're in. Some states have laws in effect that forces the company to pay the court costs for unlawful litigation.

Given that theyre in Canada..... States dont really matter lol

[James The Fox Dixon]

Mechwarrior Buddah, on 19 April 2013 - 08:05 PM, said:

Given that theyre in Canada..... States dont really matter lol

Canada may have those laws in effect also. HG is a US company, so they would have to deal with the Canadian legal system. I was speaking in regards to the states.

[Mechwarrior Buddah]

Odinson, on 19 April 2013 - 07:50 PM, said:

I mean, come on guys... this game is FREE to play.

as Ive said before:
I mean, come on guys, if PGI cant figure out how to monetize a free to play they shouldnt have made it free to play.

[Geegullsaur]

Seems unlikely that reseen mechs will come into the game unless they are redesigned again. I heard that they are rebooting the Robotech franchise and Warner Bros is making a Robotech movie but apparently they are having legal issues as well.

[Odinson]

Mechwarrior Buddah, on 19 April 2013 - 08:20 PM, said:

as Ive said before:
I mean, come on guys, if PGI cant figure out how to monetize a free to play they shouldnt have made it free to play.

I'm sure it's monetizing just fine, I guess that I was just saying I'm pretty happy with what I see here, I'm not going to get worked up over the "UnSeens." They're still a part of what I really enjoyed growing up, and that's good enough for me. Man this Centurion I've got looks AWESOME! Did you check out the Catapult? Or the Spider? Or like... every 'Mech I ever thought looked stupid in the Tech Readouts? This is great! Heck, who needs a Rifleman? This Jagermech is the same thing. Honestly with the style of the game, I can't see bothering making a Rifleman. They'd look nearly identical. The Blackjack looks like it might be pretty cool too.

[Menetius]

Their trailer for MW5 already uses the Warhammer, a knockoff of the Zentraedi NCO pod. And that trailer is still officially posted on youtube by PGI. They're already in violation if such a violation exists.

Link.

Edited by Menetius, 19 April 2013 - 09:55 PM.

[DirePhoenix]

The only issue with the unseen are the original images used to portray them. Not the names, not the stats, not the 'mechs themselves. There is no reason why PGI can't make new images to portray those 'mechs.

And something else people seem to keep blanking out: PGI doesn't even have the rights to use any of the images of the non-unseen 'mechs. All the images and artwork for MWO, including the 'mechs in the game, has to be new art created exclusively for use in MWO. ALL of the 'mechs we have in-game currently are redesigns. If PGI is redesigning all the 'mechs anyway, there is no reason why they can't redesign the 'unseen' as well.

[SteelPaladin]

Menetius, on 19 April 2013 - 09:53 PM, said:

Their trailer for MW5 already uses the Warhammer, a knockoff of the Zentraedi NCO pod. And that trailer is still officially posted on youtube by PGI. They're already in violation if such a violation exists.

Link.

Actually, the Warhammer is a human Destroid, not a Zentraedi mech. http://www.macross2....id-tomahawk.htm

[James The Fox Dixon]

SteelPaladin, on 20 April 2013 - 01:29 PM, said:

Actually, the Warhammer is a human Destroid, not a Zentraedi mech. http://www.macross2....id-tomahawk.htm

It's also one of the mechs that FASA licensed from Big West/Studio Nue way before HG showed up.