GW Sues Chapterhouse Studios & Paulson Games

[blind pig]

[Munkey Joe]

[Vaaish]

I somehow missed this thread. Good luck with the case, it sucks to have it show up at Christmas, but this reeks of unchecked and unsubstantiated facts. They even seem to have misspelled one of the lawyers names by tacking an odd "1" to the end of it.

[blind pig]

Item 44, page 11 "CARNIFLEX"

[Vaaish]

*looks around* No, no carniflexes around here, sorry.

[paulson games]

A carniflex is a really big steroid enhanded version of a normal carnifex. Hits at strength 10 but if it kills an enemy model it has to spend the following turn flexing and posing.





On the serious side I'm hoping to have some relevant info to post in the near future.

[Loken]

You know, I think you look at Scibor as a company that does it right. Chapterhouse should have followed their lead. They don't give GW anything top latch onto.

Alec

[paulson games]

Based on what GW claims is their IP Scibor is in potentially dangerous waters.

Unlike CH I stayed well away from using any trademarked names, GW however named all of my parts as being "derivitive works" of their IP which is a pretty hard item to actually define legally and comes down to a lot of arguing between lawyers.

Copyright prevents a model from being exactly the same, however "derivitive works" can be a really far reaching term that they can allege without actually providing proof. Then it comes down to a judgement call in court. While gamers might be able to pick out the differances between models, in most cases people outside the gaming community (ie jury members) tend to think little plastic men all look the same.

For example: They cited my wings as a derivitive work that infringes upon their IP for Sanguinary guard because they feature a single engine jetpack with angel wings attached. GW Claims it's covered in their product's background and description. A charge I find odd since there is no written description of Sanguinary jet packs in the codex, the codex features models & illustrations but there's no supporting fluff in the codex actually describing the jetpacks.

Despite the fact that my wings are mechanical in apearance and GW's are clearly organic in design they claim that *any* jet pack with a single engine and wings regardless of type falls in as a derivitive of their design, which by common sense is total BS, but the laws regarding IP and derivitive works are so poorly defined that just about any claim can be made. IP laws deal exclusively with concepts and apparently isn't something that can be defined clearly, where trademarks and copyright are generally much more black and white.

A lot of the stuff that Scibor and Maxi Mini make can also be hit with that same charge as GW's IP claims are so generic it could be applied to half the companies out there. GW capitolizes on their wallet to win these battles, in many cases they may not be right but they grind down the smaller companies right or wrong by virtue of them not being able to afford the legal cost of contesting claims in court. Unfortunately this is not something that occurs only with GW, just about every major brand does this, Coca-Cola is one of the most prolific lawsuit abusers in the world.

As Scibor is in Poland he might be a slightly better posistion, Polish law might have differant views on what constitutes IP but then again maybe not.

[Munkey Joe]

[mangozac]

Hey guys there was a bit of degeneration of the thread discussing this over on WargamerAU, but amazingly it pulled itself back onto course and there have been some extremely well researched and worded posts from a guy called "straylight":




Very cool, VERY good points and certainly makes a lot of sense.

[Arkangel]

I just read some of those posts...hmmmmm.... looks like anyone with a bit of research can see GW may have just F£$%ed themselves depending on specialist knowledge of the lawyers on both sides. However the GW lawyers so far have tried to build connections between buisinesses that don't exist and then can't even spell their clients' products?

Seriuously? Are they for real?

This Straylight/ Stu guy seems to be on the ball.

EDIT# Went to have a look round at Scibor's stuff thought I'd check out his gallery for anything new and guess what...?

Since xmas when this started he has since changed EVERY name of his models to 'SCi-Fi Mini'...... hmmmm .....interesting?

[NoseGoblin]

To GW it may have seemed like CH was thumbing their nose at them with such blatant use of what GW feels is their copyright and trademark.

To CH, GW may have, to their knowledge, been making claims of ownership that were not legal.

I can tell you, much of what GW is claiming, is likely not legitimate or legal and would not stand up to daylight in court. But, some of it may. Using such a shotgun approach of charges is quite in character with GW. They only need one to stick to become more than a inconvenience to CH.

The problem here is that the US legal system is broken and available for purchase by those with the deepest pockets. All GW needs to do is tie CH up in a court battle and they win... If CH gives up before going to court, GW wins. Only if this is hard fought with an attorney that is willing to go pro bono will GW loose.

The only way I can see stopping this behavior is to file a anti-trust suit against GW for its predatory business practices. Perhaps you could find a lawyer to go this rout due to the large cash penalties GW would need to pay.

[Loken]

Grandmasterspectre on the forums is an IP attorney with some very clear views on this. I might suggest you contact him for his thoughts/help.


Alec

[Arkangel]

Update on CHS Website

Chapterhouse Studios LLC to be represented by Winston & Strawn LLP vs Games Workshop in legal case
My company, Chapterhouse Studios LLC, has been very fortunate to locate pro-bono council with the help and tips of a few of our customers. Those customers have intensive legal background as well as leads that helped us find a firm that believes in our case enough to support us.


Thanks to some friends good advice and experience we have a legal agreement for Winston & Strawn LLP - http://winstonandstrawn.com/ to represent us in our case.


I consider myself very lucky to have three attorneys from the firm willing to be our representatives during the case and any other negotiations with Games Workshop. The lead on the case Jennifer Golinveaux has some major experience behind her, and I am confident that with her teams' help we will come out of this experience in great shape.


I think the attorneys thought this was a slam-dunk case for Games Workshop and we had no legal ground to stand on that there would be little chance for us to find such an outstanding firm to help us.


For everyone who has given their support, I really do appreciate it. I will do my best to let everyone know what happens (as much as is ok with the attorneys). We are truly grateful for Winston and Strawn as well as our loal customers.


Sincerely,
Nick Villacci
Chapterhouse Studios LLC

This post was a direct copy from Chapterhouse studio's website and is for information only

[mangozac]

This is great news! Nick had mentioned to me that he had found some lawyers but not that they were doing a degree of pro-bono work. I wish him the best of luck