I thought this BS was pretty much over with the release of many of the Unseen in MWO and the Battletech Project Phoenix book.
I have no idea what Harmony Gold is thinking. I saw the comparison pictures on Outreach HPG and the case is laughable.
I hope this time Weisman doesn't settle out of court. Only way to put Harmony Gold down is to prove their distribution rights are invalid (Japan ruled that and returned the rights back to the original holder). That or prove that the mechs are distinct enough. It's time and money, and FASA didn't have enough of either to fight HG. Hopefully this time it will be different.
I think HG's credibility is going to take a massive hit, assuming they've got any left to begin with. Show someone the original Dougram art and then the in-game Shadow Hawk, and you can see the obvious comparison. But Shadow Hawk vs Archer? I mean, do they not think that the in-game Archer is comparable to the Robotech destroid? What? And nothing is said about the Phoenix Hawk, which is a bit too close to the VF-1 for my liking. What is HG on, even, and would they please share?
TL;DR Robotech VS Battletech Harmony Gold doesn't own the rights to Robotech, but is suing PGI and Jordan Weisman anyway over their "owned" mechs. They are suing over 12 battlemech designs that "infringe" on their "copyright". That are supposedly similar to mechs in Battletech and MWO. A few letters were sent last year, with HG asking PGI to stop using the "unseen" mechs. PGI didn't. They also name HBS in the suit, but the mechs don't even compare to the ones used by HG. As in comparing a Locust to a "Phoenix Hawk". Which is very stupid IMHO. The also name Catalyst Game Labs in the suit, saying they infringed on their "Tomahawk" aka Warhammer design in their suit, using them in Manuals and TRO's. There is no official number for the damages they are seeking, and nothing much else has happened, other than the exchange of confidential information. The case is now in Discovery, meaning exchanging said information. What are your thoughts so far?
This is what I have to say: Harmony Gold: Harmony Gold morals: Opinion on Harmony Gold: I hope they get what they deserve: nothing. These mech designs have been disputed for so long already, they should become free to use soon anyway (I think copyright is held for ~50 years but I'm not a lawyer). And by comparing them to completely different designs I guess they're trying to show that they just don't give a fuck.
Harmony Gold is all but defunked, this is nothing more than a frivolous lawsuit. When FASA originally started using the designs for battle tech there was virtually no disparity between the Macross designs and what FASA adopted. The names were changed, but that was it. IMHO the PGI designs are far enough from the original designs that infringement will not be upheld. The changed names are the only thing really left... not much to stand on, really.
Thanks, I am trying to keep up with this story, but it's very slow going since the system of justice is slow.
Wow, I am sorry to see Jordan get caught up in this. Jordan reached out to me last year about HBG purchasing MechSpecs.com for their upcoming battletech game. What a great humble gentleman. Sadly, after he brought his idea to his partners they didn't want to invest the money at that time. Still, it was a pleasure talking with him! HBG seems like it is a pretty solid studio that is looking to do something cool with a franchise/property that we all love and dream about!
TL;DR even if I start the video at the "summary" which is at 1:4:33 WELL, I'm going to try to just tell you what Leonard decided to summarize. "Tasu" sold rights that they didn't own in the 80's, and bought the rights in 2003 to correct that. "Tasu" sued Harmony Gold, to get money owed. Harmony Gold disagreed. Harmony Gold won this because they had the correct rights, and were using them lawfully. "Tasu" does have the right to revoke the rights given to Harmony Gold, but only in 2021, in March. the "rights" discussed are about Robotech rights. All of the Robotech rights in the USA, excluding 41 original mech drawings that "Tasu" owns. This means that all the rights to Robotech are owned by Harmony Gold, in the USA only. This is not a true update, just a fact finding mission.