LEGALWATCH: Games Workshop vs Chapterhouse Trial

[chicop76]

1987 October rouge trade/ warhammer 40k 1st edition
1979 Alien film
1986 July Aliens Film

Imagine that Rouge trader comes out 1 year after aliens. Wonder if Aliens didn't come out would 40k be the same.

H.R Geiger 1975 is where the alien concept art is originated.

I just want to point out I mean Star Ship Troopers from the book which have Space Marine Power Armour. Not the Star Ship Trooper from the movie in the 1980s which came out after all the other stuff and pretty much had cadians in it.

[Mr Mystery]

ill end your comment right here and now yes starship troopers are not space marines not even close but they ARE A DIRECT RIPOFF BY GW OF IG

Yes. Because Space GI's certainly never existed pre Heinlen. At all.

Xenonmorphs? Was it the six limbs and lack of prehensile tail that gave it away?!

[Valyrius]

-Mr. Merrett described Games Day to the jury as a Games Workshop event that allowed customers to perform their "favorite hobby activity; buying things from Games Workshop".

Yup, that's definitely the best part. Giving Games Workshop more and more money for less and less stuff! I can't wait until I'm paying $35 per troop model, instead of per box. I don't even bother assembling, customizing, painting, or gaming with my miniatures because buying things from GW is just all the fun I'll ever need!

I do hope the jury is clever enough to see how telling that was for Games Workshop's business practices, and know that this whole case is nothing but their greedy narcissism showing.

[chicop76]

ill end your comment right here and now yes starship troopers are not space marines not even close but they ARE A DIRECT RIPOFF BY GW OF IG

Do us a favor and look when Star Ship Troopers came out. That's like saying Games Workshop was around in the early 50s. Star Ship Troopers the book had Space Marines in it( these marines was bad I mean awesome). It was written in the late 1950s.

[OrksOrksOrks]

1987 October rouge trade/ warhammer 40k 1st edition
1979 Alien film
1986 July Aliens Film

Imagine that Rouge trader comes out 1 year after aliens. Wonder if Aliens didn't come out would 40k be the same.

H.R Geiger 1975 is where the alien concept art is originated.

I just want to point out I mean Star Ship Troopers from the book which have Space Marine Power Armour. Not the Star Ship Trooper from the movie in the 1980s which came out after all the other stuff and pretty much had cadians in it.

Expect that the Power Armour of Starship Troopers is more like a Mecha than the armour of a GW Space Marine, they're not the same at all. Again, in name only, the concepts are totally different.

[Calicojack73]

ill end your comment right here and now yes starship troopers are not space marines not even close but they ARE A DIRECT RIPOFF BY GW OF IG

Have you even read Starship Troopers (not the movie)???
The mobile infantry in Starship Troopers are more like Space Marines. They wore incredibly powerful power armor and could kill bugs by the thousands before they were killed by sheer numbers. The point of the book was that it didn't matter... it took 18 years for a human to grow to adulthood and be trained in the use of the power armor. By comparison the bugs could spawn in the tens of thousands each day and be fully grown in about a week and ready for battle.

Yes... the mobile infantry in the MOVIE was very much like the IG but the movie missed the point of the book by a mile.

BTW, the proper spelling for ROGUE TRADER is R-O-G-U-E. It is driving me crazy seeing everyone spell it rouge... that is the word "Red" in French. :P

[Caitsidhe]

Unlike some posters on the main page, I don't think GW getting costs for dragging their paperwork submissions, is game over. They would happily eat $1900 or whatever the fine was, to get a 1" advantage in this case.

Except when it blows up in your face and you get caught. No advantage was gained by it. They did, in fact, take a hit. It will be admissible to the Jury (as well as on the Judge's mind) that Games Workshop attempted (the Judge says as much) to obscure that they had already been denied a copyright for the items being too general.

The Jury (nor the Judge) isn't going to see that as them just playing a legal game. They are going to see it as attempting to hide the facts. It looks deceptive (even if it was an honest mistake). I think that tactic was a poor one. One rule that should NEVER be broken when dealing with the American Justice system is... if you are going to hide discovery... you better not get caught. I, personally, believe the case was lost the moment that happened.

[Calicojack73]

The Jury (nor the Judge) isn't going to see that as them just playing a legal game. They are going to see it as attempting to hide the facts. It looks deceptive (even if it was an honest mistake). I think that tactic was a poor one. One rule that should NEVER be broken when dealing with the American Justice system is... if you are going to hide discovery... you better not get caught. I, personally, believe the case was lost the moment that happened.

Agreed!

[David_Jackson]

Nothing is created in a vacuum. Nothing is original. As Harlan Ellison once said, "there's nothing new under the sun."

What is NOT on trial here is where GW got their ideas; what is on trial here is if Chapter House produced content (models) that was derivative of GW's IP.

And they did. If you say they didn't, then you aren't being honest.

Here's a definition of "derivative works"; [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivative_works[/url]

Which includes how it works in regards to copyright law.

David Jackson

[Psyberwolfe]

Yeah ... Buying things isn't my favorite aspect of wargamming. My favorite aspect is to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women. Nothing else matters.