mech798 wrote:Evidently there's been a major breakthrough in negotiations between Big West and HG. It's reported that HG will stop opposing worldwide distribution of Macross media and properties, while Big West affirms their right to the Tatsanuko properties they used. in addition, Big West will not oppose distribution of a live action film outside of Japan. From what I saw, it doesn't say if they can put derivative bits of the Macross saga in a new production, but the other terms of the agreement seem to indicate that at least at this point, HG and Big West have settled a lot of their beefs and thus, negotiation on that last would probably be much more likely to be fruitful.
Yup... Harmony Gold finally bent the knee. Instead of opposing Macross licensing in the US, they're going to become a distribution partner and facilitate it. They also appear to have ceded partial control over the Robotech franchise to Big West.
mech798 wrote:I wonder what sparked this? Big West was winning the trademark debate, but equally, it was costing them money, so I wonder if both sides decided a negotiated agreement would be better.
We have a pretty good idea what sparked it. Harmony Gold requested to enter direct negotiations with Big West during the final proceedings in the dispute over ownership of the trademarks associated with Macross in the European Union. They had already fought Big West and lost in China, Australia, and the UK. Losing the EU meant that Big West had effectively turned the tables on HG. They now had the power to effectively shut Robotech down in almost every key market outside of the United States. With no future plans for animated Robotech, it seems like they decided that it was time to stop pretending Robotech was in it to win it and strike a deal if a deal could indeed be struck to get themselves that piece of the Macross action that they'd been craving for years.
mech798 wrote:I also wonder if the likely surge in purchases of various properties due to the hoped end of Covid put some pressure on all parties so they could get this done while there was time to take advantage of the restarting economies.
Unlikely, IMO. Japan was not hindered by the coronavirus outbreak anywhere near as badly as western nations were because of the deeply ingrained mask-wearing habit that already existed there. The anime studios had to suspend work for a while to let things die down, leading to production delays at studios that had productions in progress, but it was more an inconvenience than the kind of almost total economic shutdown that happened in the US.
If anyone was feeling pressured, it was Harmony Gold for the reasons explained above. Big West, on the other hand, was in fantastic shape with Macross all but literally printing money for them thanks to the runaway success of Macross Delta and its idol group Walkure. It's not quite the franchise's all-time high but it's REALLY close, and they've been in absolutely fantastic shape ever since Macross Frontier blew audiences away back in '08.
