The Northrop Grumman Issue.

[JimmyBlonde]

Meh, just model them anyway and screw Grumman. If they want to be dragged through the press for irrationally bullying a poor little games company then that's their lookout.

I hope their share prices plummet, most Grumman planes were over-rated crap anyway.

[Artist]

Originally Posted by JimmyBlonde

Meh, just model them anyway and screw Grumman. If they want to be dragged through the press for irrationally bullying a poor little games company then that's their lookout.

Sorry, wrong: In this case it's 1c and Maddox Games who will be sued and will pay dearly. And AFAIK there has even a contract been signed with Grumman.

So, no way.

Apart from that: Please make a forum search on "Grumman" and you'll find that this subject pops up every now and then and always ends in: "Sorry, no way we could do this."

[Xilon_x]

Northrop-Grumman took legal action against Ubisoft over the unlicensed use of trademarks they own (specifically, "Grumman") on the Pacific Fighters box and packaging. This legal action was perfectly justified.

UbiSoft and Maddox games jointly settled out of court with Northrop-Grumman. However, Ubisoft provided very bad legal assistance to Oleg, regardless of what he has been led to believe and has said. It is obvious his limited english and complete unfamiliarity with the American legal system were both taken advantage of.

The settlement covered the unauthorized use of a Northrop-Grumman trademark. Perfectly reasonable.

Northrop-Grumman, however, took advantage of the situation to also advance their demands for licensing fees to depict WWII era material. This has no legal basis, despite what they may claim. This has been established in court.

Despite this, as they had Ubisoft and Maddox Games at their mercy, Northrop-Grumman also legally bound them to pay exhorbant licensing fees to use any aircraft (or other material) that Northrop-Grumman claimed intellectual ownership of. Ubisoft's legal representation to Oleg presented the situation inaccurately, convincing Oleg that he had no choice or hope but to accept their demands. Regardless of the previous legal veracity of their claims, Northrop-Grumman now DOES have the legal right to demand licensing from Oleg.

The final insult was that Ubisoft, who commited the original infringement (as they are responsible for product packaging, and thus the infringing text on the box), made Oleg pay Northrop-Grumman the settlement.

Heroes of the Pacific (the creators of which, IRGurus, I spoke to personally) and Blazing Aces both feature various 'disputed' aircraft because Ubisoft didn't screw up the box on those and because those developers happened to speak fluent English and thus could fend of Northrop-Grummans baseless claims. N-G did approach IRGurus (who made Heroes), but was rebuffed and did not make further demands.

The settlement also stipulated that the matter not be discussed publicly (since it obviously would show the true colors of two out of three parties involved), which is why any and all threads that bring this matter up are deleted.

The only group who benefitted were the lawyers of a multi-billion dollar defense contractor. A multi-million dollar global game publisher sidestepped the blame and the fine. Ultimately, a dedicated Russian development studio, many of those working on a project for them at the time, those peoples' immediate families, the project's fans, and legal precedent all suffered.

I know. I built the P-61. Kami had a finished B-29 interior. An underway TBF cockpit and a completely finished Yorktown carrier were yanked. Other content that was planned, in progress, or even finished--some of it expensive--was discarded. Some artists who had devoted extraordinary time and made significant personal sacrifices to contribute to Pacific Fighters were never compensated and almost didn't even get acknowledged.

All of which Northrop-Grumman and Ubisoft have demanded be kept secret.

I, however, am not going to take this anymore. This entire post will be permanently saved to another location. I will link to it whenever the subject is broached. If I am banned, I will make sure it is publicly known here that this is why.

Oleg was taken advantage of in a horrible way, by those who stood to lose nothing and who had no support for their demands. We owe him our efforts to correct that.

[Tacoma74]

How irritating

[EJGr.Ost_Caspar]

Xilon, you should use the quote function, if you quote someone.

[T_O_A_D]

It would be nice if NG would drop their attitude for future games or additions to newer products by Oleg.

Forget about IL2 and what they pulled over on it.

[Viking]

Originally Posted by T_O_A_D

It would be nice if NG would drop their attitude for future games or additions to newer products by Oleg.

Forget about IL2 and what they pulled over on it.

A US defence contractor that lives and thrives on the hate and fear of the American population will coop with a Russian war games maker??

Dont make me laugh!

[NukeItFromOrbit]

Originally Posted by Viking

A US defence contractor that lives and thrives on the hate and fear of the American population will coop with a Russian war games maker??
Dont make me laugh!

"Lives and thrives on the hate and fear of the American population"???

There are many good people working for Northrop Grumman and they still make some damn impressive aircraft and systems today. Aircraft and weapon systems which we need BTW.

If this is true, it is completely wrong of NG and their lawyers to take advantage of 1C like that, and it was wrong of Ubisoft to allow it to happen. Yet this is typical corporate behavior and shouldn't reflect on the engineers, workers, and others at NG.

It seems strange that certain aircraft like the F4F and F6F would be allowed under this "agreement" yet all others not allowed without fees. Also, Xilon's post refererenced the B-29 which is a Boeing, not Northrop or Grumman, aircraft.

[Jumpy]

Originally Posted by T_O_A_D

It would be nice if NG would drop their attitude for future games or additions to newer products by Oleg.

I don't think that Arms manufacturers see themselves as in the business of being "nice." It's all about money, it's all about money. it's all abou.....
I just thought about something funny, what do you think? A lady once told me proudly that her son was a lawyer, to which I replied: "Oh, couldn't he find honest work?"

[Buster_Dee]

The hole NG argument is so foolish. A software facsimile can not possibly perform functions of real life, so how can it threaten or abuse anything. Now, if we created a complete dog that looked SOMETHING like a NG product, then I can see them being upset. I sometimes think they are oblivious to all their engineers who got their start making models. Sounds like free marketing to me.

If I dress up like a brownie, that doesn't make me one. If I claim I am, who can be so duped as to believe it. If it makes someone hungry for the real thing, you don't hear the baker complaining.

Well, most bakers....