Specters of 'tech Past...
I've mentioned before the legal suits between Harmony Gold and the companies behind Battletech. It's based on a mess of international licensing rights that others have researched and explained better than I every will. I don't have all the details of the settlement, but the end result seemed to be that certain mecha designs which originated in Macross could/would not be used in Battletech. And so those models, even though they were iconic, became the "Unseen." There have been attempts to redesign them over the years, but mostly they're just sort of avoided.
Well, it looks like this has come up again. I wouldn't have noticed or cared, except Harmony Gold is including in its current case the Hairbrained Schemes Battletech game in development. They've also targetting Piranha Games' Mechwarrior Online. This annoys me largely because it may delay (probably not prevent) release of the former, which I've backed and look forward to.
If you look at the legal document, starting on page 10, you can see the MWO redesigns of the "Unseen" look... well, they look like redesigns/upgrades of the original designs. They're not exact copies, but it's very clear they're derivative. Some of the lines are different, but the inspiration is obvious to the point I can see the argument. Really.
Then you get to page 13, with the comparison of Hairbrained's Battletech and... uhh... they're not even comparing the same models. Other than being giant robots with guns, there's almost no similarity. The only thing the Raven (or maybe that's a new design of Locust) shares with the Command Pod/Glaug is the overall "chicken walker" look and having two big main weapons. Comparing an Atlas to an Armored Valkyrie? They're both bipedal and roughly humanoid, I guess? And what I think is a redesigned Shadowhawk versus a Spartan? They both have sort of blocky torsos, maybe? To call those designs infringement seems like way beyond "reaching" to me.
I can see that HBS might have some legal entanglements because it sounds like Piranha may hold the general Battletech-in-computer-games license and HBS is paying some sort of licensing fee to them in order to make a Battletech game. And one of the original FASA Battletech folks is heavily involved with HBS's version. But to claim the HBS mech designs are copying the Macross designs is ridiculous.
I love Robotech. I have a certain respect for the legal "need" to defend IP rights. But I also boil my ethics down to "don't be a dick," and Harmony Gold seems to like to get pretty dickish on this issue. Repeatedly.
Well, it looks like this has come up again. I wouldn't have noticed or cared, except Harmony Gold is including in its current case the Hairbrained Schemes Battletech game in development. They've also targetting Piranha Games' Mechwarrior Online. This annoys me largely because it may delay (probably not prevent) release of the former, which I've backed and look forward to.
If you look at the legal document, starting on page 10, you can see the MWO redesigns of the "Unseen" look... well, they look like redesigns/upgrades of the original designs. They're not exact copies, but it's very clear they're derivative. Some of the lines are different, but the inspiration is obvious to the point I can see the argument. Really.
Then you get to page 13, with the comparison of Hairbrained's Battletech and... uhh... they're not even comparing the same models. Other than being giant robots with guns, there's almost no similarity. The only thing the Raven (or maybe that's a new design of Locust) shares with the Command Pod/Glaug is the overall "chicken walker" look and having two big main weapons. Comparing an Atlas to an Armored Valkyrie? They're both bipedal and roughly humanoid, I guess? And what I think is a redesigned Shadowhawk versus a Spartan? They both have sort of blocky torsos, maybe? To call those designs infringement seems like way beyond "reaching" to me.
I can see that HBS might have some legal entanglements because it sounds like Piranha may hold the general Battletech-in-computer-games license and HBS is paying some sort of licensing fee to them in order to make a Battletech game. And one of the original FASA Battletech folks is heavily involved with HBS's version. But to claim the HBS mech designs are copying the Macross designs is ridiculous.
I love Robotech. I have a certain respect for the legal "need" to defend IP rights. But I also boil my ethics down to "don't be a dick," and Harmony Gold seems to like to get pretty dickish on this issue. Repeatedly.
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