43 replies to this topic

[mouser42]

PGI should put out a court cost supporter pack together like the tournament supporter pack. It would give me a warm feeling knowing I'm helping kick HG in the lug-nuts.

[N0ni]

PGI [6] accused Harmony Gold [16] of treason.
Big West [1] accused Harmony Gold [16] of treason.
Tatsunoko [3] accused Harmony Gold [16] of treason.
N0ni [13] accused Harmony Gold [16] of treason.
N0ni [13]: I'm paladin and 16 is cult.
N0ni [13]: checked last night put 16 up and exe.

[TELEFORCE]

If PGI can put HG in their place, I might buy something from MWO again.

As for licensing, isn't that trivial now since the Marauder, Warhammer, and company look different enough from the Macross mecha?

[Ken Harkin]

TELEFORCE, on 26 November 2017 - 05:48 AM, said:

As for licensing, isn't that trivial now since the Marauder, Warhammer, and company look different enough from the Macross mecha?

That would be for a court to decide if HG had standing.

[Valdarion Silarius]

Nema Nabojiv, on 25 November 2017 - 07:00 PM, said:

The idea sounds fun, but I believe it was FASA who couldnt use the unseen.

I believe it was FASA who made some of the mechs unseen that shouldn't have been unseen. Victor Musical Industries has no ties with Macross, but FASA wanted to dodge a bullet and threw all of the mechs into the unseen category in an attempt to avoid future lawsuits for their company. Since FASA as a company doesn't exist anymore, any claims made by Harmony Gold for the VMI designs should be dismissed. It's going to be a battle of the lawyers of who wins this case.

[Bishop Steiner]

Arnold The Governator, on 26 November 2017 - 09:27 AM, said:

I believe it was FASA who made some of the mechs unseen that shouldn't have been unseen. Victor Musical Industries has no ties with Macross, but FASA wanted to dodge a bullet and threw all of the mechs into the unseen category in an attempt to avoid future lawsuits for their company. Since FASA as a company doesn't exist anymore, any claims made by Harmony Gold for the VMI designs should be dismissed. It's going to be a battle of the lawyers of who wins this case.

This is correct. Crusher Joe, Dougram, VMI, none of those were in contention, but as a reaction (overreaction?) to possibility of similar suits, they decided to remove ALL non original designs from Battletech. I'm not sure, but perhaps they were worried that HG would license the others just to make a bigger mess?

Sadly, IIRC, most of this really comes back to Jordan being massively disorganized and not taking it seriously, showing up to court unprepared, etc.... All of this crap could have been avoided 30 yrs ago, but Jordan (repeatedly) has shot himself and the fanbase in the foot over it by simply NOT being willing or able to simply fight back ALL the way.

So tired of this crap.

Yeah, HG is the bad guy in it, but the various owners if the Battletech IP over the years have constantly approached this with half measures, and thus have kept the fanbase forever strung along. Add this in to the insistence of using such low quality art and minis as the "official" stuff.... and TBH... this IP has forever given it's fanbase the short end.

[Chados]

Well, I wouldn’t celebrate just yet. A motion for summary judgment is not a silver bullet. If HG shows any plausible factual debate on the issue, the case will go to trial. And they are moving to amend the complaint-my guess is to deal with the issue in pleadings. I’d love to SEE the darn pleadings for myself but I don’t litigate in federal court and my PACER account is on the fritz.....if anyone has access to documents 47-52 on the docket and can post them up, I’d appreciate much!

[Mechrophilia]

Nema Nabojiv, on 25 November 2017 - 07:00 PM, said:

The idea sounds fun, but I believe it was FASA who couldnt use the unseen.

FASA, RalPartha, IronwindMetals, just to name a few...all of whom have been harassed by Harmony Gold in one shape or form over the years.

[Mechrophilia]

mouser42, on 25 November 2017 - 09:36 PM, said:

PGI should put out a court cost supporter pack together like the tournament supporter pack. It would give me a warm feeling knowing I'm helping kick HG in the lug-nuts.

I would honestly buy a $10 "down with Harmony Gold" warhorn!!! ...no really!

[Remover of Obstacles]

Mechrophilia, on 26 November 2017 - 12:18 PM, said:

I would honestly buy a $10 "down with Harmony Gold" warhorn!!! ...no really!

Would that be a yellow "whoopee cushion" with a big red down vote arrow on it?

I would happily pay $10 for that as well.

Don't tell EA, but I would even pre-order that warhorn.

Edited by Remover of Obstacles, 26 November 2017 - 12:47 PM.

[Bogus]

As has been noted, simply filing a motion doesn't mean very much. That said, it's nice to see someone actually stand up to Harmony Gold in court rather than just melt away with a settlement or royally screw up the litigation, thereby strengthening their IP claims. This business needs to be resolved definitively in court, one way or the other. No more half measures, no tiptoeing around the issue, no sealed agreements that leave a minefield for the next guy who comes along. Either the unseen mechs are forever vindicated or permanently deleted from the franchise. I don't even care all that much if HG somehow manages to win, since then the various BT rights holders could finally move on from this mess and replace the holes in the lineup with entirely new designs. It just needs to be resolved.

I doubt that PGI would do a legal fundraiser since it would invite a lot of very strongly worded public involvement and companies typically try to maintain an air of neutrality while their lawyers and the other guys' duke it out in court, but I'm quite sure that they've been socking away a fair amount of "F you money" over the years in anticipation of the inevitable, and that they'll continue to do so because this is one of the things that reasonable companies do with their net profit. I also note that they're about to have a big sale on a number of mech packs including the Marauder, Warhammer, Archer, Rifleman, and a few others that happen to be on the unseen list. I think I might get one, because reasons.

[James Argent]

HG has bigger fish to try to fry now:

(Okay, they don't...but I thought this was hilarious.)

[MechaBattler]

Given that they never had a right at all to their claims. Could it be possible to sue for damages?

When you think about it they really hurt the franchise's potential. And continued to do so. PGI lost the chance to work with Jordan on MW5. Instead had to go maverick and raise the money to deliver just an arena shooter. ;o

Edited by MechaBattler, 26 November 2017 - 03:38 PM.

[Mordric]

wouldn't that be Awsome!

John Stryker, on 25 November 2017 - 06:45 PM, said:

Pgi should sue hg for 20 years of lost revenue from not being able to use their most iconic mech deigns haha

[Mordric]

mabe they can just sign over all there rights to the Robo saga

MechaBattler, on 26 November 2017 - 03:37 PM, said:

Given that they never had a right at all to their claims. Could it be possible to sue for damages?

When you think about it they really hurt the franchise's potential. And continued to do so. PGI lost the chance to work with Jordan on MW5. Instead had to go maverick and raise the money to deliver just an arena shooter. ;o

[Hawk819]

Well, in my opinion, HG shot themselves in the foot. . . BIG time! By admitting some other company other than Tatsunoko owns the rights to Robotech/Macross, that being Big West Co., but seriously, they should have kept quiet about this and go one with the suit in general. However, since they did so, that gives PGI/HBS the means to go ahead and contact Big West, and then buy the license/ or purchase the license for a limited time.

What I want to know is: If true, when are we getting the Longbow, Marauder II, Rifleman IIC. Warhammer IIC, Wasp/Stinger, and Crusader, etc.??

[Hawk819]

Promessa, on 26 November 2017 - 06:29 PM, said:

I bet some of those will show up pretty quickly after this is settled. They released a bunch of unseen right up until this nonsense started iirc they stopped just to be safe but I think they know people want those robots.

I'm one such person. My friend & unit leader, Longbow, wants his namesake more than any other `Mech, and who can blame him. Heck, I wanna a lot of other designs in TRO 3050 released as well. Like the Thug, Excalibur, Spartan, Sentinel, and the "Clanbuster" variants. Namely, the King Crab KGC-001, which is one of the Clanbuster.

[Valdarion Silarius]

Hawk819, on 26 November 2017 - 06:14 PM, said:

Well, in my opinion, HG shot themselves in the foot. . . BIG time! By admitting some other company other than Tatsunoko owns the rights to Robotech/Macross, that being Big West Co., but seriously, they should have kept quiet about this and go one with the suit in general. However, since they did so, that gives PGI/HBS the means to go ahead and contact Big West, and then buy the license/ or purchase the license for a limited time.

What I want to know is: If true, when are we getting the Longbow, Marauder II, Rifleman IIC. Warhammer IIC, Wasp/Stinger, and Crusader, etc.??

There is still a distinct possibility that we might get them in reseen form before the court hearing. Alex will have to sell me on a lot of those redesigns if that is the case. I tried to get the idea across about a whole new artwork approach (see Rick Harris' artwork for example) over to Russ if they were going to take that chance.

[Vellron2005]

I strongly suggest a harassment based lawsuit be filed against Harmony Gold.. Because they have harassed the courts and BT-centric firms for decades, on the bases of "license out the back of a van"..

I think they should compensate PGI for revenue lost because of their harassment, and withholding the unseen mechs.

[Black Ivan]

Totally agree. Somebody should go on the offensive against Harmony Gold