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NEWS: Harmony Gold's Macross, Mospeada, Southern Cross Licenses Still Expire in 2021


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Mr Adventure



Joined: 14 Jul 2008
Posts: 1598
PostPosted: Thu Sep 14, 2017 6:48 pm Reply with quote
Curious if you using 'the Macross Saga' is enough to maintain trademark usage in branding.
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MagusGuardian



Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Posts: 589
PostPosted: Thu Sep 14, 2017 6:48 pm Reply with quote
Lynx Amali wrote:
Chrono1000 wrote:
Why would they do that when Tatsunoko would likely make a lot more money by selling their licensing rights to Amazon, Crunchyroll, Funimation, or Netflix?


Would they though? Funimation couldn't even do a new dub for Escaflowne, in house at that, without the aid of Kickstarter.

As for your question, different company. Tatsunoko only has distribution rights for SDF, Mospeda and Southern Cross.
the kickstarter was only to see if there was interest, sure the money went towards it but it wasn't the sole reason for it being done
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SWAnimefan



Joined: 10 Oct 2014
Posts: 634
PostPosted: Thu Sep 14, 2017 7:16 pm Reply with quote
Seeing this article made me smile, Harmony Gold's grip of terror over the Macross series will soon to be at an end, just in just 4 years. Yay! Very Happy

Also, the article makes me grumble, as it affirms HG does still have a legal claim. Boo! Evil or Very Mad

Beatdigga wrote:
4 more years.

Then we're gonna get an honest-to-God Macross movie.


All the more hoping that the current Live-Action production continues to have problems.

Chrono1000 wrote:
Will we be able to see Macross Frontier and Macross Delta in 2021 or is there still some way for Harmony Gold to prevent those shows from getting released?


Afraid so. Right now, Tatsunoko has to go through Harmony Gold to bring Macross products to the West. However, they can bypass Harmony Gold through international delivery and legal video downloading sites.

But what I think Tatsunoko is likely to do is save a North American release for the Macross 40th Anniversary and then have a massive promotion celebration. (Likely concerts in San Fran and LA, maybe other US Cities), and a promotion deal through whatever picks up the license (Funimation?)
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Mr Adventure



Joined: 14 Jul 2008
Posts: 1598
PostPosted: Thu Sep 14, 2017 7:22 pm Reply with quote
i was going to say there was no way Funimation would pick up a show as old as Macross, but then I remembered they're putting out Mach Go Go Go (also a Tatsunoko production). So maybe.

But Funimation is probably going to be quite a different company (neither a positive or negative yet) in 5 years. Sony buyout and all.
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reanimator





PostPosted: Thu Sep 14, 2017 7:36 pm Reply with quote
Golden opportunity for other US Anime publishers/streaming companies to approach Tatsunoko and make serious deal. I pray that these companies to start negotiating now than later.

Other companies have to prove Tatsunoko or whoever claims the right that they can offer far better deal than Harmony Gold. Since Harmony Gold is not doing much with other Macross franchise, they have prove that they can market Macross far better than Harmony Gold.

My Macross-loving friends will be rejoiced...
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Adrian Robotnik



Joined: 13 Sep 2017
Posts: 31
PostPosted: Thu Sep 14, 2017 7:48 pm Reply with quote
Beatdigga wrote:
4 more years.

Then we're gonna get an honest-to-God Macross movie.


Probably not.
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Adrian Robotnik



Joined: 13 Sep 2017
Posts: 31
PostPosted: Thu Sep 14, 2017 7:54 pm Reply with quote
The funny thing in all this mess is that the Robotech franchise is now long forgotten outside USA, and the Macross franchise is not well known outside Japan, so I wonder what will happen in the not so distant future...
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Beatdigga



Joined: 26 Oct 2003
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Location: New York
PostPosted: Thu Sep 14, 2017 7:56 pm Reply with quote
Adrian Robotnik wrote:
Beatdigga wrote:
4 more years.

Then we're gonna get an honest-to-God Macross movie.


Probably not.


It's gonna have a way easier path than the Robotech one.
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Mr Adventure



Joined: 14 Jul 2008
Posts: 1598
PostPosted: Thu Sep 14, 2017 8:00 pm Reply with quote
Beatdigga wrote:
Adrian Robotnik wrote:
Beatdigga wrote:
4 more years.

Then we're gonna get an honest-to-God Macross movie.


Probably not.


It's gonna have a way easier path than the Robotech one.


How so? Robotech is an establish nostalgia brand. If Transformers, Power Rangers, and Max Steel can get made into movies, Robotech definitely can. Nobody in Hollywood would give a project called 'Macross' a second glance. They're barely interesting in 'Gundam'! And that has North American penetration!
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curtisd88





PostPosted: Thu Sep 14, 2017 8:39 pm Reply with quote
Good. In 4 years the Macross franchise has the chance be in much better hands with a proper release. Discotek, Right Stuf and Funimation would be great for that.
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DerekL1963
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Joined: 14 Jan 2015
Posts: 1112
Location: Puget Sound
PostPosted: Thu Sep 14, 2017 8:41 pm Reply with quote
Mr Adventure wrote:
How so? Robotech is an establish nostalgia brand. If Transformers, Power Rangers, and Max Steel can get made into movies


Robotech was never anywhere near as big as the Transformers or the Power Rangers. Robotech has been absent from these shores for decades - while the three you mention have essentially never been absent for any length of time. All three are also linked to ongoing merchandising campaigns, Robotech is not. Etc... etc...

Apples and oranges doesn't even begin to express the gulf between Robotech/Macross and those three series.
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Chrono1000





PostPosted: Thu Sep 14, 2017 8:45 pm Reply with quote
Lynx Amali wrote:
As for your question, different company. Tatsunoko only has distribution rights for SDF, Mospeda and Southern Cross.
Okay, so it is a different company that has the rights for Macross Frontier and Macross Delta. I guess until the Harmony Gold rights expire in 2021 it isn't like any company would touch anything related to Macross.

Mr Adventure wrote:
And Harmony Gold could squat on Macross trademarks for some time, as a bargaining chip to get them to relicense. (Since they couldn't license to someone else, without renaming it or paying Harmony Gold off.

The light at the end of the tunnel seems as far away as ever.
So even if the worst case happens and Harmony Gold renews their trademark on the Macross name the day before they lose the rights couldn't Macross Frontier and Macross Delta be easily released under a different name? I mean Harmony Gold would still have the bragging rights about owning the Macross name until 2031 but wouldn't that be a Pyrrhic victory? I just can't see Amazon, Crunchyroll, Funimation, or Netflix caring that much about the name.

invalidname wrote:
I just wonder if there's any way Harmony Gold could sublicense Macross now, before their rights expire, if they determine that would net them more money than continuing to try to exploit Macross-as-Robotech for four more years. In other words, is the money they're making off the new comic book license more than they could get from Funimation (or whomever) for a short-lived sublicense to finally release this stuff on Blu-Ray? And would Funimation, in this scenario, find it worth their while to license something for such a short time?
Considering how long Harmony Gold has been fighting over this issue I think the cost benefit ratio has been thrown out the window long ago. It doesn't even look like money is a factor in this anymore.
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Mr Adventure



Joined: 14 Jul 2008
Posts: 1598
PostPosted: Thu Sep 14, 2017 8:47 pm Reply with quote
DerekL1963 wrote:
All three are also linked to ongoing merchandising campaigns, Robotech is not. Etc... etc...

Apples and oranges doesn't even begin to express the gulf between Robotech/Macross and those three series.


Robotech has ongoing merchandise. Its got a new comic book series from Titan Comics.

And Harmony Gold just made a deal with Coleco Holdings to put Robotech on some kind of table top LED arcade game.

EDIT: And that Tactics Board Game

You know, MERCH!
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SkerllyFC07



Joined: 08 Jul 2017
Posts: 108
PostPosted: Thu Sep 14, 2017 9:21 pm Reply with quote
Ehh... can someone explain me the case with Harmony Gold and Macross please? I´m still lost So you say that Robotech was a bad series ´cause edits and stuff and Macross was good ´cause is the uncut version, but it was enough big for Harmony Gold to exploit the Robotech brand, and not only that, but not allow any Macross series to be avaiable in the US(yet those series are avaiable elsewhere). What else is it? I wanna know what is it about this mess and how this affects Macross fans?

Quote:
Here is something interesting I want to talk about. You know I also blame of this license hold other than Harmony Gold themselves I blame the idiot fans who supporting them in the first place in the 1980's. Because of those "Robotech fans" Harmony Gold thought it was alright of them hold on to the Macross license with an iron grip. Had people have been more aware of their edits and criticized Robotech we might had gotten Macross franchise came to the west much sooner. Also I fear that "Glitter Force" is going become the next Robotech because there are people liking, it, praising it, and defending Saban's dub's Precure show. I am not kidding there are anime fans LIKING Saban's Glitter Force because of them they are dooming any chances of a proper release of the PreCure franchise.


Before the release of Glitter Force Doki Doki, it was announced that Toei and Saban´s deal with the Precure franchise was broken, and now Toei has the international rights to the franchise. And I´ve heard some good opinions about Glitter Force Doki Doki, so why can´t children see the series, because adults who watch anime don´t want to? I´m not a supporter of doing 4kids-style cuts to anime series either, but this ia enough introduction to anime for children, so let them enjoy it. In a couple of years, Glitter Force might dissapear from worldwide releases, including DVDs and we might have a proper release of a Precure series.
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Chrono1000





PostPosted: Thu Sep 14, 2017 10:10 pm Reply with quote
SkerllyFC07 wrote:
Ehh... can someone explain me the case with Harmony Gold and Macross please? I´m still lost So you say that Robotech was a bad series ´cause edits and stuff and Macross was good ´cause is the uncut version, but it was enough big for Harmony Gold to exploit the Robotech brand, and not only that, but not allow any Macross series to be avaiable in the US(yet those series are avaiable elsewhere). What else is it? I wanna know what is it about this mess and how this affects Macross fans?
Well the 20+ year legal battle is why none of the Macross sequels were released outside of Japan so I have seen it called the biggest anime legal mess in history. It was due to some very poorly made contract terms and Harmony Gold claimed the license rights not only to the first 3 shows but everything related to Macross. Of course none of the companies that made any of the later Macross shows (such as Macross Frontier and Macross Delta) would give them away for free so that effectively prevented any of the later shows from getting released outside of Japan.
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