Quote:
Originally Posted by Viking
Very interesting; but I think we should start from the beginning: if I recall correctly there where some American airplanes and ships that was expected or “promised” to appear in Pacific Fighter and didn’t show up. What airplanes and ships and what was the reason for this? Can anyone recap and clarify?
And please don’t criticise or defend the legal system! Just explain what went down and how things work.
Viking
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Ah! But I am neither defending nor criticizing. I am describing how an aspect of things works, that few people seem to understand or even wish to accept
It is impossible for me to "explain what went down". If I only could! I could then explain the moon, stars, and everything above them and below
This is why I did not cite any specifics, and I only say that this may begin to explain some of the complexities and concerns involved. If I could cite what really happened, what specific infringements were alleged, which of those could be made to "stick", and what was done in the way of threatening and browbeating away from a legal arena, then maybe I could begin to paint a clear picture. But of course then I'd be privy to everything that both Oleg and NGC knows about the issue
The the issue at bottom is, I very strongly feel, legal precedence, which Petter has been so good as to couch in alternative terms to try and help clarify
Now, what do I know about this? Only what I was told, and I was asked to keep the source to myself. So that may be that what I know is not true- but that is why I go no further than to say: this idea of precedence is most likely the common thread that makes NGC so damned infuriating to us in the flight sim world- but they are merely acting within their legal rights to protect themselves- and they are not afraid of what Oleg does to their business, at all. They are afraid that what he does may be cited at a future date as a reason they lost control over a thing that is actually very important to them, that has zero to do with WWII aircraft.
What I was told:
UbiSoft made box art and copy. By 'copy' I am referring to the descriptions, and disclaimers, along with any copyrights, trademarks, and acknowledgments of ownership legally needed for the box
On the box they designed and approved, there were things such as aircraft, to which Northrop-Grumman Corporation owns the rights, and UbiSoft failed to secure permission for that
This started a snowball effect, and by the time all was said and done, from what I was told, from a source I will not name but of whom I have no doubts as to sincerity, UbiSoft basically put the mess in Oleg's lap. Oleg paid for Ubi's mis-step, figuratively and from what I gather, monetarily- but that is my own inference, not what I was told
Now, much of this has been argued:
it was copyright!
no, it was trademark!
I don't see how that really matters. The end result was the omission of things. Some of which were because of rights that were violated through the lack of permission (and a fee, no dount!). How do ships fit in? That's rumored, and the rumors I heard, again from those that stand a fair chance of knowing part of the story, that Oleg (When I say "Oleg" I of course mean whatever representation he had, and Oleg) was either convinced that "all" further US material was off-limits, or that he decided it was simply too much trouble to do it, when he was hung out to dry the way he (probably) was
But bear in mind: Ilya (Luthier1) and his team, very clearly, did not have a firm grasp on the PTO in any case. When asked if there would be a "Slot" map, the response from Ilya was, as I recall "What do you need the Slot for? You have Guadalcanal". That right there is a fair indication that the entire theatre was mis-understood by the developers- but let's be fair- how good of an Eastern Front sim could I design? I knew as little about the Crimea as Ilya probably did of the Solomons. We are from different cultures
So the omission of some thigns that to you and I might be "huge" or "important" to the developers might have been an "acceptable omission of detail", and therefore it may have been thought: "Screw it. We have enough PTO content already, we've covered the bases without needing more planes and specific ships. Screw NGC too, we don't need them anyhow"
That is, of course, just my feeling on how it may have been. But it seems logical to me given what I've learned. I will never know "the facts", and Oleg of course is not about to spill the beans