1809 replies to this topic

[Valdarion Silarius]

Did anyone get a copy of the docket from 5/18/18 yet? I'm wondering if there is anything relevant that happened on pacer that we haven't seen yet.

[Sereglach]

Arnold The Governator, on 20 May 2018 - 08:21 PM, said:

Did anyone get a copy of the docket from 5/18/18 yet? I'm wondering if there is anything relevant that happened on pacer that we haven't seen yet.

No one has posted the docket that I've seen. I would be fascinated what the exact details are right now and/or to be able to read the docket itself. This is all I think we've seen on that subject from a page back:

Adridos, on 19 May 2018 - 01:07 AM, said:

We'll see how it goes in a few days. Pacer already updated the case for today and there's been nothing new. The wait is still on.

Edited by Sereglach, 20 May 2018 - 08:35 PM.

[Horseman]

Arnold The Governator, on 20 May 2018 - 08:21 PM, said:

Did anyone get a copy of the docket from 5/18/18 yet? I'm wondering if there is anything relevant that happened on pacer that we haven't seen yet.

The case status was updated in PacerMonitor. There were no new filings since May 4th.

Chados, on 20 May 2018 - 04:24 PM, said:

The Japanese are sticklers about protocol, I understand. It won’t surprise me one bit to see HG have to resubmit the request as much as three or four times, which will slow things down to the speed of molasses in the wintertime.

From what I've read, their courts don't actually have the power to compel Big West to comply with HG's request.

[CMDR Sunset Shimmer]

Exilyth, on 20 May 2018 - 12:33 PM, said:

For paintjobs on scale models or miniatures, there's a bit of advice that can not be repeated often enough: THIN YOUR PAINTS!

Ahh, the infinite wisdom of /tg/ strikes again.

[FireStoat]

Any new word on the matter? I'm dying to see what the judge does with the motion for summary judgement.

[Horseman]

Nothing yet. If anything new was filed yesterday (for Americans it's still "today"), the docket on PacerMonitor should update within two hours from now

Edited by Horseman, 24 May 2018 - 09:08 PM.

[Adridos]

Well, it's Friday. Judge's decision should appear tomorrow with the Pacer update at 12PM PDT.

[Horseman]

Adridos, on 25 May 2018 - 02:46 AM, said:

Well, it's Friday. Judge's decision should appear tomorrow with the Pacer update at 12PM PDT.

If one is issued today.

Edited by Horseman, 25 May 2018 - 07:21 AM.

[CMDR Sunset Shimmer]

Still no update?

[Horseman]

Nothing, nada, zilch.

[Sereglach]

CMDR Sunset Shimmer, on 28 May 2018 - 08:03 AM, said:

Still no update?

Horseman, on 28 May 2018 - 08:22 AM, said:

Nothing, nada, zilch.

You're not going to be getting anything today. It's Memorial Day, a US Holiday for remembering fallen soldiers; and seeing as it's a federal holiday, all government agencies are closed, which would mean the courts won't be doing anything.

Just checking in before I hold a pseudo-wake and mourn my lost friends/comrades-in-arms . . . saw the inquiries and figured I'd give a response since neither of you are from the US according to your profiles.

[CMDR Sunset Shimmer]

Sereglach, on 28 May 2018 - 09:56 AM, said:

You're not going to be getting anything today. It's Memorial Day, a US Holiday for remembering fallen soldiers; and seeing as it's a federal holiday, all government agencies are closed, which would mean the courts won't be doing anything.

Just checking in before I hold a pseudo-wake and mourn my lost friends/comrades-in-arms . . . saw the inquiries and figured I'd give a response since neither of you are from the US according to your profiles.

I'm a US citizen living abroad, totally forgot it was even Memorial Day.

[Dee Eight]

[Redacted]

Edited by draiocht, 29 May 2018 - 02:53 PM.
unconstructive (political)

[MeanFacedJohnny]

You guys can blame it on me. I really only spend money on 2 games. MWO and Star Citizen. Both are dealing with what could be big lawsuits. I will accept your blame, and your money if you feel it necessary to punish me with cash.

[BadgerWI]

One would think that after waiting 25 years to get the unseens back I could wait a little longer...turns out nope this driving me nuts.

[Valdarion Silarius]

Does anyone know what the next step of this will be? What exactly are we waiting for in the process here? Is it the judge's decision to respond to PGI's 2nd motion of dismissal or something else? I don't want to sound impatient here (since I'm well aware the court system likes to drag butt), but I can almost say that this has been pretty dead since the past week or so. I just really hope that PGI isn't thinking about settling after fighting for this long. No one was expecting this to be pushed back into Feburary 2019th when we all anticipated this mess would be over by this year.

[Horseman]

Arnold The Governator, on 31 May 2018 - 11:14 AM, said:

Does anyone know what the next step of this will be? What exactly are we waiting for in the process here? Is it the judge's decision to respond to PGI's 2nd motion of dismissal or something else?

That, and if he rejects the MFD then also on his decision whether to grant HG their request for letter rogatory.

[Sereglach]

Horseman, on 31 May 2018 - 11:54 AM, said:

That, and if he rejects the MFD then also on his decision whether to grant HG their request for letter rogatory.

Sadly, I wouldn't be surprised if we misinterpreted something and the 18th was something like the deadline for arguments on the Summary Judgment matter . . . not the deadline on his decision.

The wait is rather agonizing, since the evidence that PGI's lawyer has put forward in a rather well articulated and formed matter that sets the situation pretty straight . . . all the while HG is sitting there throwing a tantrum going, "Nuh-uh, because we say so! Here's a hearsay statement to prove our case."

[VonBruinwald]

Sereglach, on 31 May 2018 - 12:19 PM, said:

the evidence that PGI's lawyer has put forward in a rather well articulated and formed matter that sets the situation pretty straight . . . all the while HG is sitting there throwing a tantrum going, "Nuh-uh, because we say so! Here's a hearsay statement to prove our case."

Everyone here is biased. The judge is not. Sadly HG do know what they're doing which is why it's not such an open-and-shut case as we'd like.

[Sereglach]

VonBruinwald, on 31 May 2018 - 01:18 PM, said:

Everyone here is biased. The judge is not. Sadly HG do know what they're doing which is why it's not such an open-and-shut case as we'd like.

Actually, taken from an extremely unbiased perspective and looking at some concepts that PGI put forward, it has been put pretty straight at this point. The only thing keeping it from being open-shut are HG's very clear obfuscation and deflection on all of the evidence put forward by PGI. That's been stated by some of the YouTube lawyers who've been following and reviewing the case as it develops.

We just need to hope that the judge also sees it that way . . . otherwise it has to go all the way to trial for HG to get nailed with all of this evidence. Personally I think the judge will, especially give his rather unusual -but quite direct- threats about rule 11 sanctions, but we all know how wonderfully fast bureaucratic agencies -like the courts- move. Even if the judge is on PGI's side, it'll probably be a while before he announces anything.

Just to look at a few points to emphasize the clarity of the matter:

1. If HG actually needed something from Big West, that required international cooperation or a letter rogatory, to establish their case, then it's something they should have acquired from the very beginning. In the laws of copyright, themselves, it is the requirements of the plaintiff to establish that they have control of the rights in question . . . something that HG didn't do. For that facet of the argument, HG have spent the better part of a year making claims that they don't even have the proof that they have the standing to make. Now PGI is very much in the right to claim that it's a "fishing expedition" to try to get something -that may or may not exist, since HG doesn't name a specific document- to try to help them establish their standing over a year into the proceedings . . . and since it likely doesn't exist this is just a delaying tactic by HG to try to force a settlement and/or waste the courts time with delays.

2. There's also the looming facet of the litigation between Tatsunoko and HG, wherein it's been thoroughly documented in American federal courts that HG does NOT have the rights to the characters that they say they have the rights to. This is, sadly, very clearly open-shut . . . but you're right that HG knows what they're doing so they've been trying to obfuscate this ever since it was brought up. Thus the letter rogatory and deflections away from the litigation.

3. There's the fact that Big West owns the copyrights to the characters in question and even has them copyrighted in the US Copyright Offices, as clearly noted by PGI with direct filings of Big West's own copyrights. IF there is any sort of infringement, then it'd be up to Big West to sue. Again, HG knows what they're doing and are trying to obfuscate this with hearsay evidence about emails regarding copyright violations in another foreign nation (not even the US) to say they have the relevant rights. More outright deflections and obfuscation from HG.

It's not so much that it's not open-shut. It's a matter of whether or not the judge even allows the proceedings to continue, allow HG their fishing expedition with a letter rogatory, and force the matter to go to trial. Ever since PGI has opted to take HG to trial, instead of backing down and/or settling, HG has been in a tizzy trying to delay this as long as possible and try to force PGI into HG's usual legal tactics. The one -and only- time HG actually went to trial over a similar matter Hasbro beat the crap out of them; and so they're trying to avoid doing that again with PGI, because it's actually really clear that they'd lose.