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Evening All.
One of the FB 40K pages is running a thread by a CHS customer who paid months ago, no delivery, no response. The CHS FB page has had no update since April.
The discussion (40K for grown ups) makes the situation sound exactly like when Maelstrom Games went down, taking orders and not fulfilling.
Anyone got any ideas?
Their website is still up, but they don't seem to have produced anything new for a while, so far as I can see.
Yeah, there was a big fanfare when they 'won' the case against GW, but then nothing after that. Very glad I didn't buy some bitz I was debating from there.
Hardly surprising as GW worked hard to freeze their assets for the time beeing. That does crush small businesses no matter if they win or no. That is why big companies can basically blackmail smaller companies into submission because even if the small business has a perfectly winnable case, it will go bankrupt over the course of the trial.
Then don't give the big boys reasons enough to sue you, and have your assets frozen?
But of course, GW = BADIRTY. Everyone else = sweetlysaints....
Yeah, Chapterhouse made a deliberate thing out of challenging GW's IP, and if that happens, you either contest it or lose it.
I buy more from third party sellers than GW themselves these days, but places like Puppetswar, Maxmini and Victoria know not to be moronic and directly challenge a larger company just for the sake of naming your minis Space Marines rather than Astral Warriors or some other different-enough name that no-one has to bother.
You'll notice there's plenty of third party companies ripping GW's designs or at least making stuff intended to replace their minis within GW's game system that GW haven't sued. It's not like those companies are hard to find, either.
Heck, I've seen Forge World Designers using Scribor stuff in their armies that they use to play at Warhammer world (Minotaur Terminators with Scribor Shields)
GW doesn't care about 3rd party bits, you're using them on kits you bought from them anyway so they've still got your money, they care about protecting their IP, you know, because they have to.
Interestingly it was not about the names but about the design.Quote:
naming your minis Space Marines rather than Astral Warriors or some other different-enough name that no-one has to bother.
Miniatures like the "Scorpion Priestress" and the "Space Elf Arch Torturer" got removed (lost cases) while all "Space Marine Shoulder pads" cases were won.
Hmm, interesting. I suppose something like a shoulder pad is too generic, whereas the other two were probably noticeably similar to existing designs. Copyright laws are murky, awkward and kinda outdated, so I'm mainly speculating on how others have avoided the hammer while Chapterhouse stood underneath it trying to catch it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Charon
Mostly by sitting in eastern europe (Maxmini, Puppetswar) or by producing generic stuff (victoria).
Also others who received CnD letters did not take it to court (even if they were perfectly in their right) because they can not afford a trial.
Thats basically it.
Although in recent times GW seems to have ceased their mad lashings at everything that might or might not infringe their IP.
At least that we're hearing about.
Well, to be fair, GW has a bad history with this kind of stuff, like when they threatened to sue fan sites over using art (like what BoLS does all the time) at the same time as they were featuring links to (with screenshots of) websites that used said art, creating a double-standard. Their legal department has always been pretty ridiculous.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Mystery
It's also strange that GW never went after these other companies. Kromlech's bits are clearly made to go with GW products. There's a company featured on BoLS all the time that makes blatant Chaos models and upgrades. Other manufacturers make stuff specifically to fit on GW models, or even whole models to fit into GW armies (some with disturbing results, like the one Tau "sniper"... if you've seen it, you know the one I mean).
Who knows? I'm so far from an expert on these things it's not even funny.
But.....CH did like to parade around forums, lad-in-hand crowing about how it's all legal and above board, lauding themselves as 'the company that has shown the way'.
It's entirely possible they rubbed someone up the wrong way, and got a lawsuit in return.
Either way - it's not like their offerings are particularly good sculpts.
Eastern Europe. Not worth trying most of the time.Quote:
It's also strange that GW never went after these other companies. Kromlech's bits are clearly made to go with GW products.
Chapterhouse is pretty much dead because companies like Chapterhouse are only viable as long as the company they provide aftermarket product for is doing well. So in fairness, Games Workshop did kill Chapterhouse, albeit by going to a shrinking player base. Remember, Games Workshop has only remained in the black by closing stories, pink slipping employees, etc. which means and overall reduction in gaming population. Aftermarket products feed demand. Their profit margins are based on overflow volume. Games Workshop doesn't have much of that left anymore. It barely has enough for itself.
A bit far fetched.
What GW did was telling the Judge that he should freeze Chapterhouses money for the time the trial is going on. There is not a lot of businesses that can go on despite having no money for more than a month to pay for rent, employees and suppliers. This is how you kill a small business even if you fail at court.
Sorry Mr Mystery but this is a traditional tactic of bigger businesses all over the place. Specifically in America. It's called "Lawfare". My dear sweet father, Defenestratus Sr. has been going through this personally.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Mystery
He has a commercial painting franchise who did some work for a notable large chain that rhymes with "Stall-Fart". Well into the 5-digit invoice. Dad's business met the conditions for fulfillment of the contract - yet the chain store never paid. Defenestratus Sr. decided whether to take them to court and decided that it wasn't worth it since the lawyers fees would outweigh the monies he'd receive from any judgement.
"Stall-fart" knew this, and thus is the reason why they didn't pay up.
Defenestratus Sr. is now in the process of trying to sell the business franchise to a new owner, and re-entering the workforce at the age of 67.
If it was a case of them trying to shut down a potential competitor game and background. Fair enough.Quote:
Originally Posted by Defenestratus
But CH were blatant, and crowed about it to anyone who would listen, and many who wouldn't.
Your Dad has my utmost sympathy - there is something very wrong with that situation.
But it's just not really a comparative to what CH brought down on themselves.
As for Caitsidhe? I think he needs to get out more.