Forum - View topicNEWS: Harmony Gold Sues Hasbro for Copyright Infringement Over Toy
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GhostOfSide3
 Posts: 75 Location: Memphis, TN |
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Harmony Gold is why we can't have nice things. Isn't Harmony Gold ran by skeletons by now? They need to let go of their rights.
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Apollo-kun
 Posts: 1213 Location: City 7, Macross 7 |
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I was going to make a crack about Harmony Gold being delusional and trying to remain relevant, but then I looked at the designs. Those look ripped wholesale from Macross and Southern Cross, for sure.
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rankothefiremage
 Posts: 523 Location: Michigan |
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honestly the toy looks more like the more curvy VF-0, rather than the more boxy VF-1.
Also when does Harm-Gold's license expire? I'd really like to see some macross released state side that didn't have to deal with their @#$%. |
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Tetsuryu
Posts: 22 |
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Even in that case, where the hell were they when Hasbro released the Classics Jetfire that actually transformed? Either way, considering Harmony Gold hasn't done anything new with their license in over 20 years, they're basically just trademark equivalents of patent trolls at this point. Last edited by Tetsuryu on Wed Jul 24, 2013 8:09 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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LuckyAstei
 Posts: 228 |
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last I checked they have the whole scale international license for Macross due to some court snafu which is why besides the music costs that Macross 7 and Frontier are never gonna be brought over due to the fact it interferes with there cannon of Robotech.
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walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
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No ripping, they licensed the likeness of that toy for Jetfire, and I guess there just hasn't been a legal clash over that until now. Did Harmony Gold have the license for all things Macross, Mospeada, and Southern Cross at that time, did their subsequent all powerful and all consuming licenses retroactively annul Hasbro's license? Above poster is right, where was Harmony Gold for the past 30 years on this so dire and egregious infringement of their "IP". Sounds like Harmony Gold just needs to stir up more shit. |
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Vulpis
Posts: 5 |
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Honsetly, in this case I don't think Harmony Gold has much of a leg to stand on, given that this is Hasbro's own Sky Striker toy design they repainted and gave a booster-pack to. It if transformed into something Valkyrie-like, maybe. But as it is, maybe a certain aircraft company should step in and go 'Ahem' about who's design that is.
Still, if Hasbro wanted to be completely free and clear, they should have dropped the Jetfire design, and finally have given us a decent toy version of Skyfire from the original cartoon. That was a *very* different design. |
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Sakura Shinguji
Posts: 199 |
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If only Frank Agrama had actually ended up in jail in Italy after his criminal conviction last year, instead of being let off since his sentence was only three years which was then exempted under some Italian law clause. That might not have shut Harmony Gold down, but it could have helped.
Easily the most frustrating thing about Harmony Gold still existing is that it's not even like they can go out and license, say, Macross Frontier, and release it here as Robotech Frontier or whatever. After the court case in Japan that resulted in Tatsunoko's ability to actually have licensed much of what constitutes Robotech declared illegitimate, it's extremely unlikely that Big West, the real licensor, would look favorably upon a new request from Harmony Gold for licensing more of the franchise. Especially not when Tatsunoko continues to willfully allow the existing contracts between them and Harmony Gold to be renewed. And especially not when a consequence of that is Harmony Gold's ongoing c*ckblocking of other domestic licensees, which is just potential profit being kept out of Big West's pockets. To reiterate, Harmony Gold will never allow other domestic licensees to go after other Macross installments, unless they get a pile of cash out of the deal, and no domestic licensee is going to let themselves be extorted by Harmony Gold that way. But Harmony Gold themselves is also essentially unable to license any more Macross either because of how long ago that bridge was burned. So at this point, they're basically just a bunch of whiny brats saying, "If I can't have it, no one can!" That's the only real reason for this lawsuit, or for bizarre nonsense like the planned Robotech/Voltron crossover comic that no one asked for. They really just have to keep clinging desperately to that one teat, and squeezing until not even dust comes out. With all that said, there's actually nothing stopping Big West from simply releasing Macross anime products in Japan that include concessions towards English-speaking fans, which could then be imported. We would get Macross in English, and Big West would get more money. Granted, this obviously isn't a perfect solution given higher Japanese prices, but it would be an option. For example, Big West and Bandai Visual released Macross Plus on Blu-ray last month, including the English dub for the four OVA episodes and English subtitles for the movie version. It's not perfect, due to conflicts between Manga Entertainment and Big West which resulted in an alternate dub for episode 4 and new subtitles of uneven quality for the movie which Big West produced themselves. But it's something, at least. And Harmony Gold can't do a damn thing to stop anyone here from buying a copy. Macross Frontier is being re-released on Blu-ray this December as a complete and remastered (from the initial Blu-ray singles) box set. http://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00DU6JES0 Again, it's not cheap relative to domestic products, even if it is remarkably cheap relative to other Japanese products (the original singles cost twice as much). I think I'm not alone in thinking how fantastic it would be if Big West decided to commission subtitles for it, and how many fans might save up the cash and make this their first import purchase if that happened. It's likely Big West's decision, ultimately. Bandai Visual is distributing the release, but their involvement in production may be very limited. Despite that, it still couldn't hurt if multiple folks were to send them an e-mail asking for English subtitles to be included in the set, since enough of those e-mails might mean a comment could be passed on to Big West, and that could make a difference. Here's Bandai Visual's general customer service e-mail form: https://www.bandaivisual.co.jp/form_maker/form.php?id=27&paging=1 The page and form are in Japanese, but they do have at least one person on staff who handles English e-mail questions and comments. |
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Soundmonkey44
 Posts: 1243 |
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I may be completely wrong here. But I'm guessing Harmony Gold needs money.
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tangytangerine
 Posts: 439 |
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Ugh, it's stuff like that kinda makes me hope Tatsunoko finds some kind of loophole in the agreement or HG eventually just goes bankrupt.
All they've done in the past decade is basically sit on the license, while opportunities have come & gone with the newer shows. Now that it seems like they can't milk anymore money off the old shows, they're looking into copyright infringements like the whole Jetfire licensing issue. |
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Sakura Shinguji
Posts: 199 |
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It's actually a lot less than folks tend to think. Harmony Gold's Macross contracts cover the original Macross series, as well as certain trademarks which Harmony Gold filed, and continues to maintain, for specific things in relation to the franchise, among which are things like the name "Macross" and the term "U.N. Spacy." That said, the trademarks alone are effective enough to turn companies like FUNimation and Sentai away from trying to license something like Macross Frontier or Macross Zero, since HG lays claim to so much stuff that's inherent to every Macross title that there's no way around it. There's nothing actually stopping FUNimation from licensing Macross Frontier from Big West. Like, their people sitting down with Big West's people, and signing some paperwork, and handing over some money. The problem is that FUNimation then wouldn't be able to do anything with it, because in order to produce a home video release they'd first have to get permission from Harmony Gold to release a product that contained some of HG's trademarked property, and then pay HG some amount of money. Or, FUNimation has to be willing to go to court with HG over the illegitimacy of their claim to any of Macross in the first place. HG contends that the Japanese court ruling has no bearing on their contracts, which seems pretty dodgy to me. HG's trademarks, which are the real problem, are all based on their license of the original Macross series being legitimate. Tatsunoko should never have been able to license that series in the first place, which was proved in court in Japan. Fundamentally speaking, HG should be unable to prevent anyone from licensing whatever Macross titles they want. This is basically how Manga was able to license, dub and release Macross II and Macross Plus in the '90s. They just went ahead and did it. HG claims that they just weren't paying attention or didn't care enough to stop Manga, but that doesn't mean they couldn't have just sued them once they found out afterwards. HG's currently living in a house built of BS and nonsense. It's just that no one's tried to knock it down yet. |
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Supermutant
 Posts: 377 |
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Just please go away Harmony Gold. Shadow Chronicles was good but the Robtoech property after that been back to a mess due to wanting to do different things have come about. Other then whatever a mess Love Live Again is. I hope this gets thrown out in court and judge laughs at harmony gold for this. Hasbro has had the rights to jetfire for 30 years and now they complain. The thing is a re painted skystriker not a actually valkire. Get real Harmony.
Interesting to find out why we have not seen Macross 7, Zero, or Frontier here in the us. Last edited by Supermutant on Wed Jul 24, 2013 8:50 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Hitokiri Kenshin
Posts: 293 |
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Looking at that, it is a Skystriker. Skystrikers don't look like the Robotech jets.
With the Macross Frontier thing, I wonder with that as well, and have a feeling if Macek was alive and had say in things more, he would've been all for it. |
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Mr Adventure
 Posts: 1598 |
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True. But its pretty blatantly wearing a Macross FAST Pack. Harmony Gold, most obnoxious licencing company of all time. |
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Vulpis
Posts: 5 |
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I wonder if anyone's considered doing Alpha/Beta/Legios fighter stuff or Cyclone bikes as Genesis Climber products to see if they'll pitch a hissy (IIRC, isn't part of the core headache here that Harmony Gold has the rights to the majorly edited Robotech, not the source materials?). Makes me wonder if Disney or Turner Broadcasting would try the same thing if Super Sentai, Gatchaman, or Yamato products were involved (I'm assuming Turner still has BotP/G-Force and Star Blazers? I certainly could be wrong, there).
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