1
DirePhoenix, on 09 February 2013 - 02:07 PM, said:
In short, the 2009 video of the MechWarrior "reboot" (as it was called back then) is not MWO. That was going to be a single player campaign game (set in the much more reasonable time period of 3015) with multiplayer added on (and in that sense probably not unlike every other MW game made to date).
The Warhammer shown in the video though was not the "Unseen" Warhammer. It was not a "Reseen" Warhammer. It was a new design (although it was still a Warhammer) made just for that demo video.
Also, just to put this out there again, ALL OF THE 'MECHS IN MWO are using new original art.
Pirahna does not have the rights to use the art in the Tech Readouts or any print book. Those belong to Topps (yes, the people that make trading cards).
There is no issue with the 'Mech names, stats, or lore. They still exist. The only thing that was ever in contention was the art used in the original 3025 Tech Readout and the earliest versions of the tabletop BattleTech.
That being said, since PGI has no rights to any of the TRO art past or present, and that they have to create new art for the 'mechs we have in MWO anyway (regardless of "unseen" status or not), there is no reason why they should not be able to come up with their own art/designs for these 'mechs, much like the MW:Reboot Warhammer.
Not 100% true. You can run into copyright issues where your work uses even small parts of someone else's work, resembles someone else's work, is in some way based on someone else's work, or even just evokes the idea of someone else's material (or personality for that matter).
FASA and their successors would have owned the name Warhammer, the story of the design, the stats, etc., but they licenced the artwork from another source. The new reseen artwork was intended to be original, and enough of a departure from the unseen artwork to not invoke any of the above issues.
I don't know if what you said about the other original TRO artwork and PGI's licence is correct, but I have a suspicion it is not. At the very least the Catapult, Atlas, Jenner, Dragon, Cataphract, and a few other designs probably aren't enough of a departure to avoid any copyright issues if the artwork wasn't included in their licensing. Particularly look at this image of the Cataphract: http://www.sarna.net..._Cataphract.jpg . On the other hand something like the Stalker might be different enough not to run into problems, though it's still a possibility. Now, FASA would have hired artists/studios to do the artwork of the non-unseen for them, meaning they are almost certainly the copyright holders, not the artists/studio.
With all that said the Cataphract is supposed to be a mashup of other mechparts, including the Unseen Marauder (the arm I think), the arm would likely not be considered unique enough to have copyright attached to it, so it's reproduction wouldn't be a problem.
Copyright and IP issues can be an extremely expensive nightmare, and the laws around them can vary between jurisdiction, or can be dictated by international agreements.
Edited by cjmurphy87, 09 February 2013 - 02:29 PM.
