Jump to content

So...did Harmony Gold Sue?


35 replies to this topic

#1 Suko

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Ace Of Spades
  • Ace Of Spades
  • 1,226 posts
  • LocationPacific Northwest

Posted 19 January 2016 - 02:24 PM

Title says it all. Harebrained Schemes got the ball rolling and PGI got on board by releasing the "unseen" classical mechs with their own unique look. So, the real question is; did Harmony Gold sue? If so, I haven't heard anything about it.

Anyone got some secret info?

#2 Scout Derek

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • The Infernal
  • The Infernal
  • 8,015 posts
  • Google+: Link
  • Twitch: Link
  • LocationSomewhere where you'll probably never go to

Posted 19 January 2016 - 02:38 PM

Nope, sorry. no sues or anything.


here's a quote from someone on reddit a long time ago:


Quote

That the work is influenced by and similar to another does not mean it was stolen. That's ridiculous. Any art depicting the Marauder is ultimately derivative of the original art by Harmony Games. All of Alex Iglesias' Battletech-related work is based on the work of prior artists. Ultimately every mech that exists in Battletech is owned by someone.
Being influenced by someone is not the same as using an artist's work for advertising purposes without their consent.



And another quote from the same topic as well:

Quote

1)Harmony Gold doesn't actually own the designs to any mechs. All they own is the right to distribute Macross TV shows/games in North America.
2) PGI will win any lawsuit headed their way over the "unseen" mechs. There is absolutely zero infringement in these designs and PGI knows it.


So...
Posted Image

Edited by Scout Derek, 19 January 2016 - 02:41 PM.


#3 Lorian Sunrider

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Legendary Founder
  • Legendary Founder
  • 1,176 posts
  • LocationCochrane, Alberta

Posted 19 January 2016 - 02:43 PM

Also, Catalyst got the ball rolling, not HBS.

#4 Steinar Bergstol

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Urban Commando
  • Urban Commando
  • 1,622 posts
  • LocationNorway

Posted 19 January 2016 - 02:44 PM

As far as anyone knows, no, they haven't sued yet. One must also think that CGL (and Topps), PGI and HBS believed there would be a good chance they would not sue this time around before taking the chance (anything else would have been foolish considering HG's history when it comes to throwing around lawsuits), so it seems something must have happened to change the status quo. What that is? Well, I don't know, but there have been suggestions from various people that HG as a whole is on shakier ground financially than in the past these days and that their attempt at intimidating Hasbro (yeah, really. Intimidate a giant like Hasbro, they tried that) may not have gone well for them even if that apparently didn't go to court.

So, something may have changed, and it seems it might have been a positive something for every company who's had less than positive interactions with HG.

#5 Critical Rocket

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Veteran Founder
  • Veteran Founder
  • 250 posts
  • Google+: Link
  • LocationUnited Kingdom

Posted 19 January 2016 - 02:49 PM

Also the case where Games workshop lost against that indie model studio meant HG were screwed for future suits. Since HG don't make the product, and thus haven't produced any new material for years they have no legal ground to attack unless PGI, Catalyst or HBS just made a out and out copy of the original art. So basically if they could they would have sued long before now.

#6 pbiggz

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Overlord
  • Overlord
  • 4,682 posts
  • LocationOutreach

Posted 19 January 2016 - 03:04 PM

I almost want harmony gold to cease and desist Catalyst. Things are different now. Catalyst has topps at its back, an enormous company with lots and lots of lawyers. I dare them to try to screw us.

#7 Metus regem

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • The Sureshot
  • The Sureshot
  • 10,282 posts
  • LocationNAIS College of Military Science OCS courses

Posted 19 January 2016 - 03:07 PM

View Postpbiggz, on 19 January 2016 - 03:04 PM, said:

I almost want harmony gold to cease and desist Catalyst. Things are different now. Catalyst has topps at its back, an enormous company with lots and lots of lawyers. I dare them to try to screw us.



I think HG getting their teeth kicked in by Hasbro when they went after them, has made HG a little more cautious...

#8 Lyoto Machida

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Overlord
  • Overlord
  • 5,080 posts

Posted 19 January 2016 - 03:09 PM

View PostSuko, on 19 January 2016 - 02:24 PM, said:

Title says it all. Harebrained Schemes got the ball rolling and PGI got on board by releasing the "unseen" classical mechs with their own unique look. So, the real question is; did Harmony Gold sue? If so, I haven't heard anything about it.

Anyone got some secret info?


It's best not to bring it up.

#9 Escef

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Overlord
  • Overlord
  • 8,529 posts
  • Twitter: Link
  • Twitch: Link
  • LocationNew England

Posted 19 January 2016 - 03:36 PM

I would also point out that the original owner of HG died a couple years back. Combined with the out-of-court settled lawsuit with Hasbro and the utter failure of their kickstarter to get Robotech Academy going... Especially the kickstarter, I'm thinking. They introduced a $1 $2 tier of "support" for those that wanted to give them hate mail feedback. I don't think they knew just how hated they were. The ownership is only human after all, just imagine how horrified they were knowing how many people just straight up hated them? That's a bit of an ego check.

Honestly, I wish I had seen all this coming together the way it did, but I didn't. Pleasantly surprised that HG is taking a sit back and don't make trouble approach.

Edited by Escef, 19 January 2016 - 03:59 PM.


#10 Nauht

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Ace Of Spades
  • Ace Of Spades
  • 2,141 posts

Posted 19 January 2016 - 03:52 PM

Karma's a *****.

http://www.wired.co....ademy-cancelled

I think karma is meant to affect your next life or something. So to have it show up and screw you over in your current lifetime means you really f'd up.

Bet HG are kicking themselves right now that they didn't get in on the BT action. They could have been earnt a reasonable royalty on the unseen if they'd been more smart and less ****.

LOL, begging for a $2 hate pledge... if that isn't desparation I don't know what is.

#11 Ovion

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • The Vicious
  • The Vicious
  • 3,182 posts

Posted 19 January 2016 - 04:09 PM

Also, HGs schtick has been scare tactics and legal bullying, which basically relies on their opposition folding.
Legally, they never really had a foot to stand on, but they had enough money and a big enough legal team to browbeat companies into settling, ratehr than dealing with a massively drawn out legal thing.

You've got 3+ companies here working together with a warchest ready to fight anything thrown their way.
They know their chosen target is willing and able to fight back this time, and that they can't win in that instance.

#12 RoboPatton

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Elite Founder
  • Elite Founder
  • 794 posts

Posted 19 January 2016 - 04:24 PM

Sue how? Did I miss something? These new mechs are pretty radically different from the predecessors. Certainly they're updated in a way that makes them 100% unique in all but name.

I doubt HG wants a lawsuit over something so subjective, while they're trying to re-build interest in their neglected IP.

Besides, you know damn well the new Robotech will look way different too.

I think you can put the matter to bed.

#13 TheCobra

    Member

  • PipPipPip
  • The Infernal
  • The Infernal
  • 59 posts

Posted 19 January 2016 - 04:34 PM

View PostRoboPatton, on 19 January 2016 - 04:24 PM, said:

Sue how? Did I miss something? These new mechs are pretty radically different from the predecessors. Certainly they're updated in a way that makes them 100% unique in all but name.

I doubt HG wants a lawsuit over something so subjective, while they're trying to re-build interest in their neglected IP.

Besides, you know damn well the new Robotech will look way different too.

I think you can put the matter to bed.


There was a time where HG would sue you if you said the word Marauder. But getting their **** pushed in by Hasbro changed things for the better. HG is a dying company and won't be around for long.

#14 Escef

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Overlord
  • Overlord
  • 8,529 posts
  • Twitter: Link
  • Twitch: Link
  • LocationNew England

Posted 19 January 2016 - 04:43 PM

View PostTheCobra, on 19 January 2016 - 04:34 PM, said:

HG is a dying company and won't be around for long.


I wouldn't wager on that. They are still predominantly a real estate company that deals in one of the most expensive areas in the country. They've been doing quite fine for themselves, but every time in the past they threw their weight around it was a smallish to mid sized fish jumping into the tiny pond of table top game developers. Suddenly they have truly large fish to deal with, like Topps, Hasbro, and possibly even Microsoft. Pretty hard to intimidate multinationals with net income greater than many small countries' GDP.

#15 sycocys

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Moderate Giver
  • Moderate Giver
  • 7,599 posts

Posted 19 January 2016 - 04:48 PM

PGI should try that enemy spy thing, let us pay a couple bucks to say whatever we want about the dev team on a public forum. Might prove to be a real kick in the pants and get them going.

Edited by sycocys, 19 January 2016 - 04:49 PM.


#16 Atlasian

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • The 1 Percent
  • 168 posts
  • LocationSingapore

Posted 19 January 2016 - 04:51 PM

View PostOvion, on 19 January 2016 - 04:09 PM, said:

Also, HGs schtick has been scare tactics and legal bullying, which basically relies on their opposition folding.
Legally, they never really had a foot to stand on, but they had enough money and a big enough legal team to browbeat companies into settling, ratehr than dealing with a massively drawn out legal thing.

You've got 3+ companies here working together with a warchest ready to fight anything thrown their way.
They know their chosen target is willing and able to fight back this time, and that they can't win in that instance.


It will be wonderful if this is true. Now we can have our Unseen artbooks and models/miniatures.

#17 C E Dwyer

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Legendary Founder
  • Legendary Founder
  • 9,274 posts
  • LocationHiding in the periphery, from Bounty Hunters

Posted 19 January 2016 - 04:53 PM

View PostCritical Rocket, on 19 January 2016 - 02:49 PM, said:

Also the case where Games workshop lost against that indie model studio meant HG were screwed for future suits. Since HG don't make the product, and thus haven't produced any new material for years they have no legal ground to attack unless PGI, Catalyst or HBS just made a out and out copy of the original art. So basically if they could they would have sued long before now.

Oh Games workshop lost, good for the Indie studio, they've been screwing over people for years, nice to see them get kicked in the balls, for a change

What did they lose over ?

#18 Roadkill

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 3,610 posts

Posted 19 January 2016 - 05:05 PM

Quote

1)Harmony Gold doesn't actually own the designs to any mechs. All they own is the right to distribute Macross TV shows/games in North America.

Except that they don't even own that. A Japanese court ruled that they only own the rights to the original series, not all of the series. HG claims that the Japanese court doesn't have standing in the US, but the reality is that if anyone ever challenged them they'd lose. But it would be expensive to challenge their position.

http://www.kotaku.co...early-15-years/

#19 Bishop Steiner

    ForumWarrior

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • The Hammer
  • The Hammer
  • 47,187 posts
  • Locationclimbing Mt Tryhard, one smoldering Meta-Mech corpse at a time

Posted 19 January 2016 - 05:08 PM

View PostSuko, on 19 January 2016 - 02:24 PM, said:

Title says it all. Harebrained Schemes got the ball rolling and PGI got on board by releasing the "unseen" classical mechs with their own unique look. So, the real question is; did Harmony Gold sue? If so, I haven't heard anything about it.

Anyone got some secret info?

Nope. Legal aspect handled long before this.

Amazing how many people missed the fact that CGL a subsidiary of TOPPs actually got the ball rolling, and HBS and PGI just jumped on for the ride.

Harmony Gold is in their own financial and legal doo-doo, what with some very serious real estate (I think. Other stuff, too) investigations on europe, and of course their utterly failed attempt to go after Hasbro, a year or two ago.

Suffice it to say, if TOPPs legal team greenlit it, we're clear, regardless what the conspiracy idiots think.

Edited by Bishop Steiner, 19 January 2016 - 05:11 PM.


#20 Bishop Steiner

    ForumWarrior

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • The Hammer
  • The Hammer
  • 47,187 posts
  • Locationclimbing Mt Tryhard, one smoldering Meta-Mech corpse at a time

Posted 19 January 2016 - 05:11 PM

View PostEscef, on 19 January 2016 - 03:36 PM, said:

I would also point out that the original owner of HG died a couple years back. Combined with the out-of-court settled lawsuit with Hasbro and the utter failure of their kickstarter to get Robotech Academy going... Especially the kickstarter, I'm thinking. They introduced a $1 $2 tier of "support" for those that wanted to give them hate mail feedback. I don't think they knew just how hated they were. The ownership is only human after all, just imagine how horrified they were knowing how many people just straight up hated them? That's a bit of an ego check.

Honestly, I wish I had seen all this coming together the way it did, but I didn't. Pleasantly surprised that HG is taking a sit back and don't make trouble approach.

Actually, Frank Agrama owns HG, not Carl Macek. And it's Agrama who's neck deep in legal issues.
https://en.wikipedia...ki/Frank_Agrama





1 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 1 guests, 0 anonymous users