Kotaku 
Enter your username and password.
-
posts about #mechwarrior5 more → 
Mechwarrior 5 Runs Into Legal Trouble
Is This MechWarrior 5?
Denver, 1:59 AM
Fri Dec 11
61 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip us:
Editor-In-Chief:
Brian Crecente
| AIM | Twitter
Deputy Editor:
Stephen Totilo
| AIM | Twitter
Senior Editor:
Michael McWhertor
| AIM | Twitter
Senior Contributing Editor, Japan:
Brian Ashcraft
| AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editor, East Coast:
Michael Fahey
| AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editor, Oceania:
Luke Plunkett
| AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editor, Weekends:
Owen Good
| AIM | Twitter
Correspondent, San Francisco:
AJ Glasser
| AIM | Twitter
Columnist:
Leigh Alexander
Columnist:
Tim Rogers
| posts about #mechwarrior5 more → |
Mechwarrior 5 Runs Into Legal Trouble |
Is This MechWarrior 5? |
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
09/05/09
09/04/09
Still, the gray mech has a heavy Robotech tinge to it, I don't think it's a rip-off.
Inspired? Fine, but that doesn't warrant legal action. Both look good in their own ways.
09/04/09
At this point FASA or Jordan Weissman or whoever owns the Battletech/Mechwarrior IP's should pay a license fee to use these designs. It would be a shame to have to remove them from the game and future Battletech products.
09/04/09
Absolutely. The Warhammer is kind of iconic of Mechwarrior. Granted it doesn't have the same stature of the Tiimberwolve but it just wouldn't be the same without the old PPC spitting monster :)
09/04/09
[battletech.catalystgamelabs.com]
Seems that Catalyst Game Labs, the company who had the license to publish the print version of the BattleTech game, had been planning on bringing back "the Unseen Twelve" mechs, which had been deep-sixed as part of an out-of-court settlement between FASA and Harmony Gold back in the late '90s. But apparently nobody told Catalyst about said settlement. I can easily imagine that nobody told Piranha about it either.
See, back when FASA originally came out with BattleTech, they needed a bunch of robots to populate the universe. Rather than make up their own, they decided to buy some.
The problem was, FASA didn’t buy the rights to the mecha from the legitimate seller of them. They bought them from a Japanese model company, which was making models of the mecha—not the animation studio that designed them. That would be like someone buying the rights to use images of Star Wars toys in some completely unrelated game…from Mattel.
Years went by. Harmony Gold bought the license to the Macross mecha designs, along with everything else Macross, from the legitimate rights-holder. FASA kept right on churning out BattleTech games.
Even then, Harmony Gold probably would have left FASA alone as beneath their notice until FASA decided to sue Playmates…the company that just happened to be making some Robotech toys as part of their ExoSquad line. Even though the suit wasn’t over the Robotech toys but over an ExoSquad design that copied a later BattleMech (MadCat, IIRC), and even though the suit had at least some merit to it (though not enough to win the case), it was not a good idea for them to antagonize the company that was the partner of the legitimate licensor of the images they licensed from the wrong company. Best to remove the beam cannon from their own eye before going ofter the mote in someone else’s and all that.
In the end, the judge found for Playmates in the matter: there was some resemblance between the toys, but not enough for the judge to rule in their favor. Because it wasn't such a clear-cut victory, the judge declined to make FASA pay Playmates's legal fees. (Playmates subsequently appealed, and the appeals court sent the case back down to the trial judge for clarification, and the judge issued a scathing opinion (on an April Fool's Day, no less) saying, "You know, guys, if you were unclear on my reasoning, you could have just asked me."
Subsequently, perhaps feeling the writing was on the wall, FASA opted to settle in secret with Harmony Gold, and stop using the mecha and images altogether. And not a word was heard since…until now.
I've put all the legal documents I can find pertaining to the case—not just that one you link above—on this website:
[terrania.us]
There's some interesting reading there.
09/04/09
You might also want to check out this link:
[battletech.catalystgamelabs.com]
Seems that Catalyst Game Labs, the company who had the license to publish the print version of the BattleTech game, had been planning on bringing back "the Unseen Twelve" mechs, which had been deep-sixed as part of an out-of-court settlement between FASA and Harmony Gold back in the late '90s. But apparently nobody told Catalyst about said settlement. I can easily imagine that nobody told Piranha about it either.
See, back when FASA originally came out with BattleTech, they needed a bunch of robots to populate the universe. Rather than make up their own, they decided to buy some.
The problem was, FASA didn’t buy the rights to the mecha from the legitimate seller of them. They bought them from a Japanese model company, which was making models of the mecha—not the animation studio that designed them. That would be like someone buying the rights to use images of Star Wars toys in some completely unrelated game…from Mattel.
Years went by. Harmony Gold bought the license to the Macross mecha designs, along with everything else Macross, from the legitimate rights-holder. FASA kept right on churning out BattleTech games.
Even then, Harmony Gold probably would have left FASA alone as beneath their notice until FASA decided to sue Playmates…the company that just happened to be making some Robotech toys as part of their ExoSquad line. Even though the suit wasn’t over the Robotech toys but over an ExoSquad design that copied a later BattleMech (MadCat, IIRC), and even though the suit had at least some merit to it (though not enough to win the case), it was not a good idea for them to antagonize the company that was the partner of the legitimate licensor of the images they licensed from the wrong company. Best to remove the beam cannon from their own eye before going ofter the mote in someone else’s and all that.
In the end, the judge found for Playmates in the matter: there was some resemblance between the toys, but not enough for the judge to rule in their favor. Because it wasn't such a clear-cut victory, the judge declined to make FASA pay Playmates's legal fees. (Playmates subsequently appealed, and the appeals court sent the case back down to the trial judge for clarification, and the judge issued a scathing opinion (on an April Fool's Day, no less) saying, "You know, guys, if you were unclear on my reasoning, you could have just asked me."
Subsequently, perhaps feeling the writing was on the wall, FASA opted to settle in secret with Harmony Gold, and stop using the mecha and images altogether. And not a word was heard since…until now.
I've put all the legal documents I can find pertaining to the case—not just that one you link above—on this website:
[terrania.us]
There's some interesting reading there."
09/03/09
That being said, the red mech and the Tomahawk look NOTHING alike.
09/03/09
09/03/09
It would be nice if all the Religious icons, (Jesus, Allah, Budda, etc.) could just form a corporation and sue everyone for ripping off the human form.
09/03/09
09/04/09
09/03/09
Amazing.
09/03/09
Bring the trailer down? Fuck you, Harmony Gold. You will not ruin the new MechWarrior game with your piddling horse shit. I can't even recall the last time I saw a Tomahawk in a Macross anything.
09/03/09
09/03/09
09/03/09
09/03/09
I will have to echo the sentiments of "Fuck you, Harmony Gold."
09/03/09
07/07/09
Id like a reason to break out my old Steel Battalion controller
07/07/09
I would give my right arm, left nut, and first-born child for a new MW.
07/07/09
PLEASE GOD LET THERE BE A NEW MW!!!
07/07/09
Morelike... downgraded.
07/08/09
And by that I mean "redundant"
07/07/09
07/07/09
OH, but there will be anew!
07/07/09
07/07/09
07/07/09
They've really done some impressive stuff with that, I'd hate to see it go to waste.
07/07/09
07/07/09
07/07/09
07/07/09
The Conquest mode was also fucking sweet for a meta-game and a concept that really should be revived.
07/07/09
Sorry, there is no convincing me, especially since I was a hardcore Mechwarrior player on the PC.
Mechwarrior 2 is what got me to buy my first Dell P120! And upgrade from the archaic 486DX.
Now they were fun I suppose, but for the Mechwarrior fans, to leave them out in the cold was just bastard.
07/07/09
07/07/09
Would love to play a new Mech/Merc game.
07/07/09
How do you DO it?
07/08/09
Same here, I got the Dell P120 with a Motion 771 2MB video card!
@Whytookay - Battlecruiser Operational:
Been playing it since I was a kid with my uncle. He got me into Mechawarrior. And his collection (hundreds of pewter figurines) and hardbound books has to be worth thousands now!
07/07/09
07/08/09
Look at my avatar, and tell me I don't agree.