View Single Post
Old 08-04-2017, 11:44 AM   #8
TheAmishStig
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: Lancaster, PA
Default Re: Harmony Gold vs. BattleTech, Round N

Quote:
Originally Posted by ColBosch View Post
Nobody had any idea that Japanese animation would become anywhere as popular in the United States as it did. (Of course, this was in large part thanks to Robotech itself.) For years various American companies had licensed toys and model kits from Japanese creators and given them new stories, such as Hasbro's Transformers and Revell's Robotech Defenders (Harmony Gold actually took over that copyright; the name predates the revamped animated series). Trans-Pacific copyright law is convoluted, to say the least.

As for Smith & Tinker's MechWarrior 5 project, all I have found on that was that HG hit IGN with a cease-and-desist to remove the tech demo video. S&T had really just meant that video to attract investors, and ultimately failed, setting the stage for Piranha Games to step in and develop MechWarrior Online. I don't think it ever went to court. If it did, I'd love a link to the actual court documents.
I'm finding countless stories about them raising the initial stink [circa 2009], but records of the "Take your licensing fee and GTFO, you're wasting my time" moment are hard to come by. I'll keep looking.
__________________
Andy Mull
MIB Agent #0460
Ogre 134th Battalion

Lancaster, PA
Imgur: https://agent0460.imgur.com/
TheAmishStig is offline