Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthony
There's a decent chance FASA in 1984 wasn't all that sophisticated about that kind of stuff (looks like they were a two-man operation at that time).
|
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.