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NEWS: Harmony Gold USA v. Hasbro Case Dismissed


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TarsTarkas



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 5821
Location: Virginia, United States
PostPosted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 1:09 pm Reply with quote
Wonder if both parties thought that this was going to cost more money than planned, and no one side would win, even if one side actually won the judgement.
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Marzan



Joined: 29 Mar 2009
Posts: 514
PostPosted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 1:54 pm Reply with quote
Harmony Gold as usual using litigation to hang on whatever they can squeeze out of licensing 3 shows more than three decades ago. Sad really.
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Mohawk52



Joined: 16 Oct 2003
Posts: 8202
Location: England, UK
PostPosted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 1:58 pm Reply with quote
Hasbro has lots more capital to pay it's lawyers than a two bit property management company like Harmony Gold. They saw that they didn't stand a chance of winning and have bailed before it would bankrupt them. Shame really. Macross could have gotten this monkey off its back for good had they stayed stubborn and ended up committing business suicide.
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Kougeru



Joined: 13 May 2008
Posts: 5521
PostPosted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 1:58 pm Reply with quote
Marzan wrote:
Harmony Gold as usual using litigation to hang on whatever they can squeeze out of licensing 3 shows more than three decades ago. Sad really.
To be fair, they actually seemed to have a case here. I've seen some other company selling things that looked exactly like Gundams at the grocery store here. It's like I'm living in china
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yamiangie



Joined: 03 Mar 2010
Posts: 465
PostPosted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 1:58 pm Reply with quote
So did both sides talk to each other and realize that getting toy collectors to return the sold toys wasn't going to happen?
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Mohawk52



Joined: 16 Oct 2003
Posts: 8202
Location: England, UK
PostPosted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 2:00 pm Reply with quote
Kougeru wrote:
Marzan wrote:
Harmony Gold as usual using litigation to hang on whatever they can squeeze out of licensing 3 shows more than three decades ago. Sad really.
To be fair, they actually seemed to have a case here. I've seen some other company selling things that looked exactly like Gundams at the grocery store here. It's like I'm living in china
They were grabbing at gossamer strings trying to get away with it.
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MentalMachine



Joined: 09 Oct 2013
Posts: 74
PostPosted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 2:01 pm Reply with quote
Macross II and Plus proved that you don't need to hack up shows to be successful in the US. Say what you want about Animaze's/Manga's dubs, but they were at least faithful to the original Japanese scripts for said OVAs. Oh, and Richard Epcar, so Macross Plus wins, I guess. Macross II also had early Steve Blum.

What does this have to do with anything? Well, if Macross Plus and II could be huge sellers pre-boom, without any editing, this only shows that Macross and whatever those other shows were did not need to be edited for mass consumption.
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Beatdigga



Joined: 26 Oct 2003
Posts: 4352
Location: New York
PostPosted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 2:10 pm Reply with quote
Considering the dismissal with prejudice, I'm assuming Hasbro sent the copyright trolls at HG the legal fees for a potential case and HG backed down.
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doubleO7



Joined: 17 Jul 2009
Posts: 1068
PostPosted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 2:22 pm Reply with quote
Kougeru wrote:
Marzan wrote:
Harmony Gold as usual using litigation to hang on whatever they can squeeze out of licensing 3 shows more than three decades ago. Sad really.
To be fair, they actually seemed to have a case here. I've seen some other company selling things that looked exactly like Gundams at the grocery store here. It's like I'm living in china


Not the same at all. Chances are those companies in China are producing those toys without permission. Hasbro licensed the rights to the plastic mold used for the production of this toy straight from the Japanese manufacturer of the Macross toys. They were well within their right to do that and to sell the toy.

In all likelyhood the fact that this Transformer looks like a mecha from Macross did not harm HG financially in any way, shape, or form. They likely just saw this as an opportunity to take legal action in an attempt to rake in some cash, but dropped it when they realized it would cost more to fight Hasbro than it was worth.
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PrinessShandi82



Joined: 04 Oct 2013
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 3:40 pm Reply with quote
It is so blatantly true that they are selling a toy that is so Macross/Robotech just from looking at the picture.
http://www.hasbrotoyshop.com/Products_DetailView.htm?AC=C&CD=96&ID=32166&TP=HR
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2313/2088984682_9c18e8cf71_z.jpg?zz=1
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larinon



Joined: 27 Jul 2003
Posts: 992
Location: Midland, TX
PostPosted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 4:01 pm Reply with quote
The problem I see is that I had a toy back in the mid-eighties that looked exactly like the jet in the picture. It was a Transformer named Jetfire if I recall correctly. So why wait 27+ years to do something about it?
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Nyghtwynd



Joined: 24 Jan 2012
Posts: 62
PostPosted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 4:34 pm Reply with quote
PrinessShandi82 wrote:
It is so blatantly true that they are selling a toy that is so Macross/Robotech just from looking at the picture.
http://www.hasbrotoyshop.com/Products_DetailView.htm?AC=C&CD=96&ID=32166&TP=HR
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2313/2088984682_9c18e8cf71_z.jpg?zz=1

The Valkyrie/Veritech-like toy is Jetfire, who Hasbro bought the mold of the old Macross Valkyrie of to sell as Jetfire. The toy did come out before Robotech aired.

I have the G1 Jetfire, and looking into buying swappable decals of both Autobot logos and UN Spacy logos for when i wanna change him from a TF toy to a Macross top.
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jdnation



Joined: 15 May 2007
Posts: 1993
PostPosted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 4:47 pm Reply with quote
Does this mean we'll symbolically closer to getting Macross Zero on blu-ray here, or is that result of the other lawsuit between companies in Japan? How's that one going?
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Emerje



Joined: 10 Aug 2002
Posts: 7328
Location: Maine
PostPosted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 5:14 pm Reply with quote
larinon wrote:
The problem I see is that I had a toy back in the mid-eighties that looked exactly like the jet in the picture. It was a Transformer named Jetfire if I recall correctly. So why wait 27+ years to do something about it?


Because they couldn't do anything about it then and they can't do anything about it now. Hasbro bought the image and the toy mold directly from Bandai/Takatoku Toys in 1984 (or '83 depending on how far ahead they worked). Hasbro still owns that image and the fact that they are selling the set again just proves that Harmony Gold didn't get any of their demands met on this.

People like to talk about how Hasbro probably stomped on HG and forced them into backing off. I'd like to think that Hasbro and HG instead came up with a way to work together that would benefit both companies. How nice would it be if Hasbro started making a retail-friendly Robotech line while being able to make a proper Jetfire figure for the Transformers Generations line? I don't think it's impossible.

Emerje
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doubleO7



Joined: 17 Jul 2009
Posts: 1068
PostPosted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 5:29 pm Reply with quote
jdnation wrote:
Does this mean we'll symbolically closer to getting Macross Zero on blu-ray here, or is that result of the other lawsuit between companies in Japan? How's that one going?


No, this has absolutely nothing to do with the anime. Its not like HG went out of business, they just dropped their lawsuit. The situation is no different than it was before.
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