1809 replies to this topic

[Adridos]

Fox the Apprentice, on 05 April 2018 - 02:10 PM, said:

In hindsight, I think they mismatched on purpose so they'd have an excuse to amend the complaint. Assuming they were planning on the stalling "tactic" being an option from the start.

Nah, they had a case with Marauder and Warhammer being in the game, plus the old man giving them a legally binding pinkie promise to not use them ever again.

The rest was in there for reasons that need an explanation from a lawyer. It's not exactly a completely new thing, FASA in fact did the same thing in their case, claiming just about everything in EXO-Squad is copied over from Battletech. For instance, THIS is a clear copy of a Nova, at least according to FASA's lawyers. Or THAT... is absolutely a Daishi.

Lawyers are not known for their sense of humour, so I think we can wave it off as somewhat of a real tactic. For whatever reason or purpose it serves.

[CMDR Sunset Shimmer]

Adridos, on 05 April 2018 - 10:41 PM, said:

Nah, they had a case with Marauder and Warhammer being in the game, plus the old man giving them a legally binding pinkie promise to not use them ever again.

The rest was in there for reasons that need an explanation from a lawyer. It's not exactly a completely new thing, FASA in fact did the same thing in their case, claiming just about everything in EXO-Squad is copied over from Battletech. For instance, THIS is a clear copy of a Nova, at least according to FASA's lawyers. Or THAT... is absolutely a Daishi.

Lawyers are not known for their sense of humour, so I think we can wave it off as somewhat of a real tactic. For whatever reason or purpose it serves.

I'd love proof of those accusations.

You love to sling mud at FASA, and we've already agreed they're not exactly good guys in all of this, but you can't just throw out claims like that, gonna have to cite some sources my man.

[BadgerWI]

So is today still the day? Or because of HG's rebuttal was D Day pushed back so the Judge could consider HG and PGI latest arguments?

[Horseman]

CMDR Sunset Shimmer, on 06 April 2018 - 03:52 AM, said:

I'd love proof of those accusations.

You love to sling mud at FASA, and we've already agreed they're not exactly good guys in all of this, but you can't just throw out claims like that, gonna have to cite some sources my man.

That part he is actually right about. https://www.eyrie.or...asa/legal-5.txt ( full list of documents: https://www.eyrie.or...botech/hg-fasa/ )

BadgerWI, on 06 April 2018 - 03:53 AM, said:

So is today still the day? Or because of HG's rebuttal was D Day pushed back so the Judge could consider HG and PGI latest arguments?

As far as we know, today is the day. If I understand correctly, PGI filed their opposition on time and it should be considered by the judge along HG's request.

Edited by Horseman, 06 April 2018 - 04:36 AM.

[CMDR Sunset Shimmer]

Horseman, on 06 April 2018 - 04:33 AM, said:

That part he is actually right about. https://www.eyrie.or...asa/legal-5.txt ( full list of documents: https://www.eyrie.or...botech/hg-fasa/ )


As far as we know, today is the day. If I understand correctly, PGI filed their opposition on time and it should be considered by the judge along HG's request.

Well, I'll be damned, fair enough.

[Horseman]

Worth noting, however, that FASA's arguments relate to the toyline; if any comparisons are to be made, they should be based on the toys and their packaging appearance ( http://www.virtualto...d/exosquad.html ) rather than how the mecha looked in the cartoon itself.

[Adridos]

Horseman, on 06 April 2018 - 06:10 AM, said:

Worth noting, however, that FASA's arguments relate to the toyline; if any comparisons are to be made, they should be based on the toys and their packaging appearance ( http://www.virtualto...d/exosquad.html ) rather than how the mecha looked in the cartoon itself.

Yeah.

Spoiler

Daishi


Nova

I didn't bring it up to beat the dead horse. I'm just noting the completely asinine claims made in addition to a legitimate copyright infringement seem to be a genuine practice in the law world for reasons beyond my understanding.

[Horseman]

Adridos, on 06 April 2018 - 06:50 AM, said:

I didn't bring it up to beat the dead horse. I'm just noting the completely asinine claims made in addition to a legitimate copyright infringement seem to be a genuine practice in the law world for reasons beyond my understanding.

Because not every plaintiff understands what a protectible trade dress is and what is/isn't copyrightable.

My best guess (guess only, Not A Lawyer) is that FASA started the case with the goal of proving that the Heavy Attack Exo Frame was an unlicensed copy, with the secondary goal to identify less extensive instances of possible copying that could be used to increase the value of damages they could extract from Playmates.

Also, to be fair, in the latter case if you ignore the huge cockpit bubble.on Playmates' product.there is a resemblance to either Nova or Stormcrow.

Edited by Horseman, 06 April 2018 - 07:24 AM.

[BadgerWI]

I see a bushwacker not so much a nova.

[evilauthor]

BadgerWI, on 06 April 2018 - 08:02 AM, said:

I see a bushwacker not so much a nova.

And the "Daishi" looks a hell of a lot more like an Elemental to me than an actual Daishi. If for no other reason that the Playmates "Daishi" is clearly more power armor than mech. Also, the actual Daishi is much boxier.

[legionofvega]

Any update on a ruling today?

[CMDR Sunset Shimmer]

Adridos, on 06 April 2018 - 06:50 AM, said:

Yeah.

Spoiler

Daishi


Nova

I didn't bring it up to beat the dead horse. I'm just noting the completely asinine claims made in addition to a legitimate copyright infringement seem to be a genuine practice in the law world for reasons beyond my understanding.

Honestly I'd have said Rifleman, Bushwacker... but hey...

[Metus regem]

CMDR Sunset Shimmer, on 06 April 2018 - 10:32 AM, said:

Honestly I'd have said Rifleman, Bushwacker... but hey...

You know what the sad part is, I went through all the EXO squad toys on that site, and I had about half of them as a kid....

The funny side is, I liked taking them apart and rebuilding them, after the first time I did it, they moved better...

[Horseman]

legionofvega, on 06 April 2018 - 10:14 AM, said:

Any update on a ruling today?

Nope. Our main sources (PacerMonitor & CourtListener) typically take a few days to update.

[CMDR Sunset Shimmer]

Metus regem, on 06 April 2018 - 10:37 AM, said:

You know what the sad part is, I went through all the EXO squad toys on that site, and I had about half of them as a kid....

The funny side is, I liked taking them apart and rebuilding them, after the first time I did it, they moved better...

I never had any of the Exo-Squad stuff... but I DID have some of the battletech toys.

Had the Bushwacker, Hunchback IIC[called just a hunchback], Thor, and Toad[elemental] battle armor.

loved them all, even though the breakaway parts ended up either eventually snapping, or holding so loose they could barely stand.

Still, man, those battletech toys were fun.

[Metus regem]

CMDR Sunset Shimmer, on 06 April 2018 - 10:55 AM, said:

I never had any of the Exo-Squad stuff... but I DID have some of the battletech toys.

Had the Bushwacker, Hunchback IIC[called just a hunchback], Thor, and Toad[elemental] battle armor.

loved them all, even though the breakaway parts ended up either eventually snapping, or holding so loose they could barely stand.

Still, man, those battletech toys were fun.

I had the Axman and the Thor for the BT toys... Still got my VF-1S Valkyrie from Macross... My 5 year old son wants to play with it all the time...

[Horseman]

Harmony Gold: "No except yes".
https://drive.google...VjF_weA4DS/view

[evilauthor]

Horseman, on 07 April 2018 - 06:51 AM, said:

Harmony Gold: "No except yes".
https://drive.google...VjF_weA4DS/view

So, I don't really feel like reading through HG's BS. Can someone summarize their argument?

[Adridos]

evilauthor, on 07 April 2018 - 07:06 AM, said:

So, I don't really feel like reading through HG's BS. Can someone summarize their argument?

There's no summary. They basically go through every point laid out and try to discredit it.

Ranging from going "If they've got the evidence supporting you, why would you be against it?" to citing FASA claiming a bunch of **** back in the day and getting beaten. The main point of theirs is that the letter rogatory request is really not something that gets shut down except in really rare, extreme cases. And even then get shut down on the order of the court, not the feuding parties. The refute of the copyright is that they own the international copyright for the characters and only got stripped of the right to make derivative works off of them.

Edited by Adridos, 07 April 2018 - 08:58 AM.

[BadgerWI]

So this means...the ruling on the request for discovery / summary judgment been pushed back?