cjcastan

Funimation mentioned this on their Twitter. Speculation is they have inside track to stream. I never thought I would live to see this.

9 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Yes, HG has trademarks on not just the title and certain key terms, but also certain pieces of key art like the characters from the original series and some of the mecha.

The approach they're talking about here is not workable for that reason.

They should Yamato 2199 it but call it megaroad, and change the VF1 designs and call it a day. 

2 hours ago, Dynaman said:

Did they still lose the rights to the fighting kite and the name Macross?  If yes then their stranglehold on Macross other then the original show is done.  If not then well...

 

Or was that only in the UK?

I thought in the arbitration, tatsunoko owns the trademarks now in USA. Big west owns in UK.

So maybe there’s a hope for the sequels but SDFM hope is lost. I think no one evens knows who owns DYRL rights anymore

Dyrl and the SDF are done for. Tats holds the trademark in 3/2021 for the name Macross and the kite. We may see sequels stateside or maybe Sony does something to work it out so the live action movie moves forward. Not gonna lie this is a gut punch

I watched 2199 on Crunchyroll and am almost caught up to 2202 on there. Right now CR only has up to episode 13. Does anyone know what the English release schedule looks like for the rest of the series? Or is Funimation further along?Thanks in advance

1 hour ago, Dynaman said:

> Macross in general isn't exactly aimed at the 30- and 40-somethings out there... it's targeted to the secondary school students (and maybe college students).

So was Frontier, if the next series is more like Frontier then I'm all for it.

Me too! I thought frontier was incredible. I am an oldtaku who was introduced to the franchise by the robotech. 

Delta personally wasn’t my favorite. Not because of walkure (which took some getting acclimated to) but because the story completely slammed on the brakes after the 1st cour. I mean we had a whole talking head exposition episode.

hope springs eternal, so I do look forward to the next installment, happy it isn’t 8+ years between iterations like it has been in the past.

This is a non story. Tats is majority owned (54%) by Nippon television 

 In fiscal year 2017 Nippon had media revenues of roughly 3.3 billion dollars.

Tats won’t need to take a crappy HG deal unless BW doesn’t give them a deal they feel is fair, and Tats has no other way to monetize the property.

It has been stated all the people with bad blood in management from the Tats side towards BW are gone (probably from the Nippon acquisition in 2014).

The HG trademarks (kite / macross name) based on the US arbitration become Tats property when the current agreement expires.

IMO 2021 will all boil down to if BW and Tats agree to an equitable split of revenues from Sony/Funi, Crunchyroll, or Netflix.

Considering speculation HG uses robotech as a loss leader tax shelter to write off real estate profits, I can’t imagine HG would pony up the money needed to block the consortium of big west / Bandai / and the possible content providers (Netflix / crunchy / Sony).

The big questions probably are- will Tats and BW agree on an amount each will get in the distribution of the macross catalog and future projects be tolerable. Or will one or both not agree to work together because the split isn’t workable.

4 hours ago, Knight26 said:

Back to the Macross License.  Does HG have right of first refusal with Tatsunoko, or does it become an open bid in 2021?  If it is the former, well we could be in the same boat we are now, if the latter, all BW or Bandai, or any other distributor need to do is give a better offer, which seems likely.

I believe after arbitration. In 2021 Tats has the control to re-up.

its in the white highlighted text a few posts up on this page

2. Relief Granted in favor of Respondent
a. Claimant’s right to use the Programs for production and/or exploitation of new works expires on March 14, 2021 along with any extant sublicenses as all rights to the Programs revert back to Respondent at that time.
b. Upon expiration of the term of the Operative Agreements, the Claimant no longer has any right to use or exploit derivative works produced during the term, which contain portions of the Programs, as rights to the Programs revert back to Respondent at that time.
c. Claimant has no permanent, exclusive, and irrevocable copyright and trademark rights in the Programs as same shall belong to Respondent on expiration of the term in 2021;
d. Upon expiration of the term, Respondent shall have the right and option to disaffirm/cancel any existing licenses, assignments and/or other agreements extending beyond the term as may have been entered into by Claimant with others granting any rights in and to the Programs

This is good right?

won’t speed anything up but can’t hurt the 2021 cause 

For messer when it says decals for hayate, does that mean it will be the Kai version per delta ep 25. Or do they modify delta 2 in the delta movie? 

Any ideas?

Sorry for sounding dumb, but this is “The Next” project then, right?

6 hours ago, JB0 said:

Isn't that literally the entire basis of the current case, HG suing Tatsunoko for not paying them?

You are correct, HG felt Tats owed them for legal fees and Tats wanted their rights more clearly defined hence the arbitration. I meant in terms of, has Tats paid yet on the recent arbitration decision that was handed down in August.

Sorry for being unclear.

36 minutes ago, kajnrig said:

...is Tatsunoko not doing well financially? From all this talk it sounds like they are, but... it's Tatsunoko. They can't be having money problems.

I don't know how Tats the subsidiary division of Nippon, takara, IG, and horipro is doing.

in other social media (Reddit, twitter, Facebook, other boards) there has been some supposition that Tats will have to re-up with HG because the $800+k would be too much for them to bear.

in doing the research though of all Tats situation, the 800k doesn't look like the biggest stumbling block.

2021 can't get here soon enough.

1 hour ago, Major Focker said:

that's not indicative of HG's finances, likely just prudent follow through by HG's legal team.

the arbitration ruling would most likely have specified payment deadlines. so if those lapsed, it's quite expected there will be a filing by the next day.

One thing is I don't think anyone actually knows if Tats paid yet or not. I was just responding to someone who is supposing that.

In other places, I have seen it said Tats needs to go back to HG because of their financial situation, this is probably internet supposition not based in fact.

the majority owner of Tats is Nippon TV. According to their most recent shareholder information -  

this is a major conglomerate whose media and content revenue is 374 billion yen or roughly 3.3 billion. I can't imagine if they and Takara (who together own about 70 percent of Tats) wanted this 800k to go away tomorrow they could. 

The more I delve into it, the more hopeful I am that 2021 will see a US release in some fashion of parts of the franchise we haven't seen here yet.

2 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Well, sort of... Japanese business culture emphasizes politeness, which does not always take the form of a constructive politeness.  They'll just as likely politely listen to your view and nod along, then with equal politeness either refuse to proceed further or dismantle your position bit by bit at a later date or time in a carefully-worded rebuttal.

They can be very obstinate when they don't feel a decision is in their best interests... but, in my experience, they'll be obstinate with impeccable politeness and express their sympathies for the inconvenience.

The biggest X factors IMO are going to be

1. will Tats feel that working with BW will be more profitable than re-upping with HG.

2. Will BW be willing to take less than 100% on the sequels since they will have to compensate Tats on the trademarks.

3. Or if BW wins back the TMs in Europe and other territories can they use that as precedent in a case to rip the TMs from Tats in the USA

Hopefully someone with deep pockets can make it worth both firms while to work together 

7 hours ago, JB0 said:

And then Tatsunoko didn't pay the money the arbitrator granted to HG. That may hurt their case.

Well the case has been arbitrated so the awards are what they are. Unless there's a clause in the original agreement that allows for additional litigation, you go to arbitration to avoid the court system and the decisions can be binding.

Tats does need to fork over the money but considering this was decided less than a month ago, I don't think non receipt at this point changes the awards most importantly the deal ending in 2021 and Tats receiving the trademarks 

22 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

That'd be an odd call, but not unheard-of... it probably depends on how the terms of the license are drawn up.  

 

 

Yeah, that definitely makes it sound like Tatsunoko will gain ownership of the trademarks that HG has filed for should the license expire.

It certainly reinforces my point... even if Tatsunoko throws HG to the wolves like they deserve, they still have the means (at least in the short term) to insist Big West play on their terms outside Japan.

True tats has the leverage, but I would hope they can see making money in working with big west and vice a versa. 

10 minutes ago, Dynaman said:

No - the legal case for HG to own the trademarks is at best in limbo after they lose the rights, my guess is they will be able to keep the trademarks even though they lose the other rights.  In the US who had claimed them (trademark) first is a major factor.

https://www.leagle.com/decision/infdco20170830639

award 2c

Claimant = HG

Respondent = Tats

c. Claimant has no permanent, exclusive, and irrevocable copyright and trademark rights in the Programs as same shall belong to Respondent on expiration of the term in 2021;

i don't know how to read that other than TMs go to Tats on 2021

40 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Granted, but the point was that we know Tatsunoko badly wants a share of the profits from all of the Macross sequels... and we know they have a VERY effective means of blocking Big West from distributing Macross's sequels outside Japan.  Since US trademark law favors first use over actual ownership of the property, all Tatsunoko has to do is renew HG's license or shack up with another distributor and resume the trademark shenanigans.

If Tatsunoko was willing to go to court and appeal the decision against them multiple times in an effort to get a share of the Macross sequel profits, you can bet they wouldn't just let Big West go wild outside Japan.  They'll insist upon a piece of the action.

I thought I heard in the legal explanation, that in 2021 all HG trademarks would go to tats. But even if not, I imagine they could gain control of them after HG's ownership expire in 2022.

the scenario I see happening and am hopeful of is that one of the deeper pocket players (Netflix or Amazon) contracts with both Tats and BW to get the whole franchise free and clear.

the key is what happens to the trademarks in 2022, or who can control them.

3 hours ago, D' only said:

Someone (or anyone) should start talking (or express interest) to tatsunoko on acquiring the licenses now, so that Tatsunoko won't think HG is their only option. 

I wonder if a crunchy or sony/Funi has the pockets and juice to wrangle both tats and big west to get the whole franchise over.

i imagine if amazon wants the whole macross franchise for anime strike, or Netflix wants it as a Netflix original ( a la little witch academia) they have the cash and influence to pull it off

12 minutes ago, Focslain said:

Not really.

Another series to watch (both in general and in the market) will be Legend of the Galactic Heroes. It hasn't been released outside of Japan officially until Sentiworks started to do so earlier this year and is just about as old.

This series has about the same late arrival that early Macross will have. So if it can succeed here then there is hope.

Also if they re-release Macross Plus or just start going from newest to oldest in series for release that can help bring newer fans in.  

Speaking of LOGH, I don't know how it has done for hi-dives subscription numbers, but it is a central part of their marketing.

I think from Mac 0 on, the animation is new enough not to look too dated, and make a splash for a streaming service, if/when it happens in 2021+

looks like bw has been making moves.

11 minutes ago, JB0 said:

Wet blanket time!

Even if HG loses the license and Robotech dies, we still have to wait for their trademark on the Macross name to fizzle out, because that is independent of licensing(and was filed out of spite; but that's irrelevant).

I thought I read somewhere, if HG loses the license, then their  patents on the names and the UN Spacy kite go away because they have no reasonable claim to them. I could be mistaken but I thought I read that somewhere

3 minutes ago, HardlyNever said:

Posted a shorter video in a different thread, I'll repost here:

Sounds like the Macross license goes back to Tatsunoko in 2021, and it is up to them what they do with it.  Hopefully they will stay far away from HG with it.  What that means for the continued existence of the Robotech license is, I have no idea.

I'd love to see genuine Macross stuff in the US, though.

Everything is so fluid now, but if Tats goes back on the open market, you gotta believe amazon, Netflix, Sony/Funi will be lining up and with more cash than HG