1809 replies to this topic

[Chados]

Document 104:

104 misc Stipulation Mon 4:54 PM
STIPULATION of Dismissal with Prejudice of Defendants Harebrained Schemes LLC, Harebrained Holdings, Inc., and Jordan Weisman by parties (Corning, James)

There was a docket entry last year on CGL’s default but I don’t have an active PACER account so I can’t look at the docket in full.

Edited by Chados, 12 April 2018 - 12:34 PM.

[Zergling]

I think he's talking about this:

Quote

104 misc Stipulation Mon 4:54 PM
STIPULATION of Dismissal with Prejudice of Defendants Harebrained Schemes LLC, Harebrained Holdings, Inc., and Jordan Weisman by parties (Corning, James)

I have no idea if his interpretation is correct though.

[Chados]

“Her.”

And I know what a stipulated dismissal with prejudice means. Been involved in them a time or two.

[Zergling]

Doesn't it require a mention of HG/the plaintiff as one of the involved parties in the stipulation?

Edited by Zergling, 12 April 2018 - 12:37 PM.

[Chados]

It says “stipulation of dismissal by the parties” as to Weisman and Harebrained. It wouldn’t refer to HG because HG is still in the lawsuit.

I’d like to read the stipulation. It would be the best authority.

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

[Zergling]

Well, I'm not saying you're wrong, but I'm not seeing a lot of evidence that you're right either, so I'm gonna wait and see.

[Chados]

Certainly you don’t have to take my word for it.

[Thorqemada]

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.

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.

Well, i hope that is not the case bcs it simply would be a might makes right move or money buys justice and rightful law should be a thing that stands above and beyond money!

Edited by Thorqemada, 12 April 2018 - 12:50 PM.

[Marauder3D]

Chados, on 12 April 2018 - 12:29 PM, said:

Document 104:

104 misc Stipulation Mon 4:54 PM
STIPULATION of Dismissal with Prejudice of Defendants Harebrained Schemes LLC, Harebrained Holdings, Inc., and Jordan Weisman by parties (Corning, James)

There was a docket entry last year on CGL’s default but I don’t have an active PACER account so I can’t look at the docket in full.

See, I read that as HG's case against HBS and Jordan has been dismissed with prejudice, as in, it was so crappy that the Judge has thrown it out. Permanently. Now lawyers get paid to translate this stuff for us, so I'm not sure my reading is right.

But I think that is a GOOD thing. But man I'll be bummed if I'm wrong.

[Chados]

They’re out. And HG agreed not to sue them anymore. Which is a circumstance that tells those with some experience at the Bar something. HG’s lawsuit wasn’t thrown out as to Harebrained. They agreed to let Harebrained go. That also tells us something.

By the way, yes, I’m a lawyer. No, I don’t do copyright. But I can read a docket and make educated guesses. Which is all I’m doing here. Your mileage may vary.

Edited by Chados, 12 April 2018 - 01:08 PM.

[Vanguard836]

Marauder3D, on 12 April 2018 - 12:47 PM, said:

See, I read that as HG's case against HBS and Jordan has been dismissed with prejudice, as in, it was so crappy that the Judge has thrown it out. Permanently. Now lawyers get paid to translate this stuff for us, so I'm not sure my reading is right.

But I think that is a GOOD thing. But man I'll be bummed if I'm wrong.

I'd be more hopeful of this rather than a settlement from HBS, the reason being is that HG was claiming the Locus, Shadow hawk and Atlas as derivative of theirs which they don't look alike.

Chados, on 12 April 2018 - 01:06 PM, said:

They’re out. And HG agreed not to sue them anymore. Which is a circumstance that tells those with some experience at the Bar something. HG’s lawsuit wasn’t thrown out as to Harebrained. They agreed to let Harebrained go. That also tells us something.

Could just mean they know they haven't got a leg to stand on with the comparisons they're suing on and are "letting them go" because they know ?

That's the tricky part, we don't know and until a word is out of it we won't know.

Edited by Vanguard836, 12 April 2018 - 01:09 PM.

[Chados]

I doubt they’d have stipulated to dismissal with prejudice if they weren’t getting something substantial out of it. They had no reason to do that, they had a good faith and non frivolous claim against Weisman because of the FASA litigation and agreements earlier. They might be wrong. But that doesn’t mean they’d lose at summary judgment.

Edited by Chados, 12 April 2018 - 01:11 PM.

[Shadowomega1]

The last couple paragraphs seem to contradict what HG is trying to go for, as it says the art of the 41 characters is owned by Big West and Tats doesn't have derivative rights to it. Which is what is really the heart of the case. And you need those rights to do anything with those internationally right?

[CMDR Sunset Shimmer]

If HG allowed Hairbrained to go without issue... then that might indicate they realized that their attempt to bring HBS into the lawsuit in the first place was flawed, given I think the grounds they tried to draw HBS into the suit was over the mechs that clearly held no relation to the unseen in any way.

correct me if I'm wrong there...

[Horseman]

Zergling, on 12 April 2018 - 12:34 PM, said:

I think he's talking about this:


I have no idea if his interpretation is correct though.

It is.

104 STIPULATION of Dismissal with Prejudice of Defendants Harebrained Schemes LLC, Harebrained Holdings, Inc., and Jordan Weisman by parties (Corning, James)

Quote

STIPULATION OF DISMISSAL WITH PREJUDICE
Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a), Plaintiff Harmony Gold U.S.A., Inc.,
and Defendants Harebrained Schemes LLC, Harebrained Holdings, Inc., and Jordan Weisman
(collectively, the “Harebrained Defendants”), by and through their respective counsel of record,
stipulate and agree that all of Plaintiff’s claims against the Harebrained Defendants are
dismissed with prejudice, without an award of fees or costs to any party. This stipulation does
not affect Plaintiff’s claims against the remaining defendants in this lawsuit.

Now, do note... we don't know what exactly prompted this, or if there was some new settlement, but it seems HBS is off the hook now.

Chados, on 12 April 2018 - 01:10 PM, said:

I doubt they’d have stipulated to dismissal with prejudice if they weren’t getting something substantial out of it.

Avoiding sanctions, perhaps? If my memory serves the judge threatened rule 11 sanctions against them before.

Edited by Horseman, 12 April 2018 - 02:21 PM.

[Metus regem]

Thorqemada, on 12 April 2018 - 12:46 PM, said:

Well, i hope that is not the case bcs it simply would be a might makes right move or money buys justice and rightful law should be a thing that stands above and beyond money!

Welcome to the real world.

Money talks, it is very, very, very rare that actual justice ever happens these days, when it comes to actions like this, those with the deepest pockets usually win, usually by one of the following ways, sometimes more than one:

Time (if they can drag it out long enough to out last their target)
Law Firm (better law firms cost more money)
Knowing the right people (rare, but sometimes bribery / political pressure can happen)

[Horseman]

Chados, on 12 April 2018 - 01:10 PM, said:

I doubt they’d have stipulated to dismissal with prejudice if they weren’t getting something substantial out of it. They had no reason to do that, they had a good faith and non frivolous claim against Weisman because of the FASA litigation and agreements earlier. They might be wrong. But that doesn’t mean they’d lose at summary judgment.

Looking at their complaints (specifically, second amended complaint), the only claim they made against Weisman was that HBS' supposed infringement also constituted a settlement violation on his part.

Edited by Horseman, 12 April 2018 - 02:31 PM.

[M Jordanus Sicarius]

CMDR Sunset Shimmer, on 12 April 2018 - 01:43 PM, said:

If HG allowed Hairbrained to go without issue... then that might indicate they realized that their attempt to bring HBS into the lawsuit in the first place was flawed, given I think the grounds they tried to draw HBS into the suit was over the mechs that clearly held no relation to the unseen in any way.

correct me if I'm wrong there...

Additionally, HBS being in the lawsuit runs the risk of Paradox getting involved at some point. Which would be major bad news bears for HG, given Paradox's financial and legal resources.

In any event, I wouldn't read into this too much. There are a multitude of reasons why HG would to drop HBS from the defendants, most of them not being dangerous to PGIs case. It's easy to speculate, but everyone has to be aware that there's a multitude of ways this case could go given that HG's legal position is from being on stable ground. And while it's no guarantee, PGI has certainly invested quite a bit of time and money, not only on the legal front, but also on the software front, to develop and maintain the reseen mechs. They aren't going down without a fight.

Edited by M Jordanus Sicarius, 12 April 2018 - 02:36 PM.

[Shadowomega1]

Horseman, on 12 April 2018 - 02:17 PM, said:

It is.

104 STIPULATION of Dismissal with Prejudice of Defendants Harebrained Schemes LLC, Harebrained Holdings, Inc., and Jordan Weisman by parties (Corning, James)


Now, do note... we don't know what exactly prompted this, or if there was some new settlement, but it seems HBS is off the hook now.

Avoiding sanctions, perhaps? If my memory serves the judge threatened rule 11 sanctions against them before.

Well the Marauder, Warhammer, Archer, and Rifleman do not appear in the release of Battletech. However, if PGI does win this that might allow those mechs to appear in an update, unless there is some stipulation we are not aware of.

Edited by Shadowomega1, 12 April 2018 - 03:07 PM.

[evilauthor]

Wait, doesn't HG's case against Harebrain being "dismissed with prejudice" and not just "dismissed" mean bad things for HG? I was under the impression that the "with prejudice" part was supposed to be bad for the dismissee.