1809 replies to this topic

[Horseman]

109 respm Declaration Mon 5:36 PM
DECLARATION of Atsushi Noguchi filed by Plaintiff Harmony Gold U.S.A., Inc. re87 Second MOTION for Summary Judgment as to Plaintiff's Lack of Standing to Assert Copyright Infringement Claim (Hughes, Andrew)

[FireStoat]

Oh snap. I read the declaration. The plot of this soap opera just took a minor turn.

[Thorn Hallis]

This ain't gonna end well :s

[sleet01]

The most significant portion seems to be:

Quote

9. The decisions addressed the parties' rights in Japan; however, they did not address the international exploitation of "Macross," including the Characters. Instead, Tatsunoko and Big West/Studio Nue separately agreed that Tatsunoko's status as the exclusive licensor of the international rights in and to "Macross," including the Characters, shall be maintained even after the Japanese decisions. The agreement between the parties, which was entered after the Japanese court decisions, remains effective and valid even now.

I believe this is directly contradicted by the ruling on Big West and Studio Nue's ownership of "the 41"; that is, Tatsunoko did not at any time possess the rights to those characters outside of the Macross show itself, in the past *or* the present, and thus any licenses to those characters which Tatsunoko issued were also invalid. Whether Tatsunoko did or currently does believe differently is irrelevant (although it appears this needs to be challenged separately in the US for the granted US rights to be officially overturned). Also, this section seems to be somewhat vague: it does not refer to the 41 characters which are exclusively the property of Big West, but only mentions "the Characters."

Edit: Interestingly, in the recent arbitration decision wherein Harmony Gold's rights to all the rights which Tatsunoko actually owned were affirmed (emphasis mine), the arbitrator also affirmed that Big West's exclusive ownership of "the 41", and Tatsunoko's mistake in licensing them to Harmony Gold, were both true:

Quote

Big West Litigation

In or around 1998, Big West, a Japanese animation company (who along with Studio Nue had co-produced Macross with Respondent), asserted that it, not Respondent, owned the exclusive rights to make sequels based on Macross which, if correct, would have denigrated rights licensed to Claimant. The court ruled for Respondent in 2003 as confirmed in 2005 by the appellate courts except for finding that Big West owned exclusively the original visual depictions of 41 characters as used in the Macross program. This substantial victory for Respondent still left it in breach of its representations and warranties to Claimant in the Operative Agreements (as to the visual depiction of the 41 characters) wherein it had represented that the rights granted would not infringe in any way upon the rights of third parties.

Now, I did some checking, and there is a Senior Managing Director Atsushi Noguchi at Tatsunoko. But so far as I can tell, he has never authored any other documents in English whatsoever. It is my opinion that this document is a somewhat massaged English translation of a Japanese-language statement, and I remain suspicious of its provenance unless I can find out who translated it. Make of that what you will.

Edited by sleet01, 12 April 2018 - 12:24 AM.

[naterist]

it sounds like it was an under the table or verbal deal, and thats their justification for the letter rogatory, to prove that deal existed.

[Thorqemada]

HGs Hail Mary move...it may either win them the case out of a really bad position or at least prevent any backlash for copyright trolling as they were the ill informed victims of foreign japanese communication culture.

Edited by Thorqemada, 12 April 2018 - 03:03 AM.

[Lupis Volk]

Thorqemada, on 12 April 2018 - 02:53 AM, said:

HGs Hail Mary move...it may either win them the case out of a really bad position or at least prevent any backlash for copyright trolling as they were the ill informed victims of foreign japanese communication culture.

Which freaking sucks because we know they're copyright trolls.

[Horseman]

Quote

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

• 113 respm Surreply Wed 4:42 PM
  
  SURREPLY filed by Defendant Piranha Games, Inc. re93 MOTION for Discovery for Issuance of a Letter of Request (Letter Rogatory) (Meiklejohn, Paul)

Edited by Horseman, 12 April 2018 - 03:50 AM.

[Zergling]

Hmm, in part 9 there is this sentence: "The agreement between the parties, which was entered after the Japanese court decisions, remains effective and valid even now."

So... does HG have any evidence of this agreement, given it took place after the Japanese court battle and isn't mentioned there?

[Horseman]

113 respm Surreply Wed 4:42 PM
SURREPLY filed by Defendant Piranha Games, Inc. re93 MOTION for Discovery for Issuance of a Letter of Request (Letter Rogatory) (Meiklejohn, Paul)

So, remember when HG cited FASA as PGI's predecessor? Seems PGI took offense to this, and they're moving to have one of HG's declarations stricken from record.

[Valdarion Silarius]

Thorn Hallis, on 11 April 2018 - 11:08 PM, said:

This ain't gonna end well :s

Thorqemada, on 12 April 2018 - 02:53 AM, said:

HGs Hail Mary move...it may either win them the case out of a really bad position or at least prevent any backlash for copyright trolling as they were the ill informed victims of foreign japanese communication culture.

Lupis Volk, on 12 April 2018 - 03:37 AM, said:

Which freaking sucks because we know they're copyright trolls.

Not sure why the three of you are acting like the sky is falling all of a sudden. Atsushi Noguchi is a senior director of Tatsunoko productions, whom still doesn't own the 41 copyrighted macross characters that HG is trying to claim in this case. Big West does, and it seems like they are acknowledging their bad trade agreement which gave HG the false impression that they "owned" the mech robots at the time.

[Vanguard836]

Horseman, on 12 April 2018 - 04:54 AM, said:

113 respm Surreply Wed 4:42 PM

SURREPLY filed by Defendant Piranha Games, Inc. re93 MOTION for Discovery for Issuance of a Letter of Request (Letter Rogatory) (Meiklejohn, Paul)

So, remember when HG cited FASA as PGI's predecessor? Seems PGI took offense to this, and they're moving to have one of HG's declarations stricken from record.

I wouldn't see it as taking offence to it so much as correcting the fact that they are not FASA's successor as in an entity that has the same role and products while they may share similar interests I.E. Mechwarrior.

[Horseman]

Vanguard836, on 12 April 2018 - 05:23 AM, said:

I wouldn't see it as taking offence to it so much as correcting the fact that they are not FASA's successor as in an entity that has the same role and products while they may share similar interests I.E. Mechwarrior.

I used that phrasing for humorous effect.

[Thorn Hallis]

Arnold The Governator, on 12 April 2018 - 04:56 AM, said:

Not sure why the three of you are acting like the sky is falling all of a sudden.

Because I like Adeles song so much.

[Zergling]

Vanguard836, on 12 April 2018 - 05:23 AM, said:

I wouldn't see it as taking offence to it so much as correcting the fact that they are not FASA's successor as in an entity that has the same role and products while they may share similar interests I.E. Mechwarrior.

PGI doesn't have the same roles and products as FASA; FASA produced the TT boardgame while PGI made a computer game based on that.

The closest to a successor to FASA would be Catalyst, but even they don't actually own Battletech like FASA did.

PGI's role is closer to that of previous developers and publishers of Mechwarrior games, like Activision, Microprose and Microsoft.

Edited by Zergling, 12 April 2018 - 07:20 AM.

[Dee Eight]

Zergling, on 12 April 2018 - 03:56 AM, said:

Hmm, in part 9 there is this sentence: "The agreement between the parties, which was entered after the Japanese court decisions, remains effective and valid even now."

So... does HG have any evidence of this agreement, given it took place after the Japanese court battle and isn't mentioned there?

And also predates that guy's employment there so all he is stating in his declaration is heresay.

[Metus regem]

Zergling, on 12 April 2018 - 07:19 AM, said:

PGI doesn't have the same roles and products as FASA; FASA produced the TT boardgame while PGI made a computer game based on that.

The closest to a successor to FASA would be Catalyst, but even they don't actually own Battletech like FASA did.

PGI's role is closer to that of previous developers and publishers of Mechwarrior games, like Activision, Microprose and Microsoft.

The Battletech IP is a real cluster ****...

Topps/CGL own the rights to the TT game

Ironwind Metals own the rights to the minatures

Microsoft own the rights to digital games and anything relating to the word "Mechwarrior"


That's why the 3rd edition RPG for Battletech change it's name from Mechwarrior to Battletech RPG half way through it's run.

[Thorqemada]

Arnold The Governator, on 12 April 2018 - 04:56 AM, said:

Not sure why the three of you are acting like the sky is falling all of a sudden. Atsushi Noguchi is a senior director of Tatsunoko productions, whom still doesn't own the 41 copyrighted macross characters that HG is trying to claim in this case. Big West does, and it seems like they are acknowledging their bad trade agreement which gave HG the false impression that they "owned" the mech robots at the time.

I am not sure what you read in my response - a Hail Mary is usually a desperate last ditch effort to change the fortune of game and if anything the sky is falling down on HG albeit a court will ever do what a court will do and this is not necessarily what common sense expects so the judgement is still not or ever set in stone and HG needs to be fought back with all force possible for every ******** they declare bcs it becomes only ******** if you can make it smell!

Edited by Thorqemada, 12 April 2018 - 12:40 PM.

[Chados]

As I read all this, the nutshell is:

1) Harebrained Schemes and Jordan Weisman are out of the lawsuit. There has been a settlement, and HG has dismissed them with prejudice, meaning that they can’t re-sue on these facts. Catalyst already is out by defaulting on the complaint and not responding.

Upshot: Forget any chance of Reseeing the Unseen in the new Battletech game. The settlement almost certainly involved Weisman and Harebrained acknowledging that HG owns the Unseen.

2) Tatsunoko is throwing in with HG. Not surprising. They’ve got money at stake. But their declaration leaves something unanswered: Their rights in the Unseen for derivative works. The wrangling over Macross is a red herring there. It isn’t Macross that is at Bar. It is the Unseen. And PGI’s position is that HG can’t defend copyright in something it does not own-the derivative rights.

PGI is alone now. The other parties have defaulted out or settled. I now predict that sometime in the next 180 days, PGI too will settle. The result will be that the Unseen will not be seen in MW5, PGI will publicly acknowledge HG’s ownership of the Unseen, and PGI and HG either will come to some sort of retroactive licensing agreement relating to the Marauder, Archer, Warhammer, Rifleman, and Phoenix Hawk as they currently are portrayed in MWO or PGI will revoke the Unseen from MWO and offer some minimally-viable way to compensate those of us who bought them. I predict the latter, and the remedy to those of us who spent the money will be offered other mech packs or mechs of equal face value.

[Marauder3D]

Chados, on 12 April 2018 - 12:17 PM, said:

As I read all this, the nutshell is:

1) Harebrained Schemes and Jordan Weisman are out of the lawsuit. There has been a settlement, and HG has dismissed them with prejudice, meaning that they can’t re-sue on these facts. Catalyst already is out by defaulting on the complaint and not responding.

Say What?

Not saying your wrong, but I totally missed this. On the Catalyst website, everyone thinks HG is on the ropes, bigtime. LIke, victory imminent. So can you quote your source for this? I just want to know where you saw this, etc.

Thanks,

Mad