Arthas_Zero said:
1. If Wizards DOES win the case, what will become of the Eon format?
2. Didn't the Pokemon TCG originate in Japan? If so, why is Wizards assuming that NoJ took game mechanics from MTG?
The whole thing might just be a FUD campaign (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt--a tactic IBM originally employed, which was Embraced and Extended by Microsoft). I'd refer you to the SCO vs. IBM case which is currently ongoing. {Don't worry, this'll swing back to Topic!} In the SCO case, SCO starts making a lot of noise about IBM distributing Unix code which they claim has some of SCO's proprietary bits in it. This taints Linux as SCO brings the integrity of Linux code into question. Whilst IBM mobilizes the Big Guns (and Red Hat readies its own artillery), companies who have been planning a Switch start putting their plans on hold to wait and see what happens (and MS salivates, having donated $6m to SCO's legal fund*). What's really going on behind the scenes, is SCO doesn't have a leg to stand on, and they're on the verge of bankruptcy. They're trying to get the stock pumped up so their execs can dump it high. They're also trying to scare license fees out of Linux/IBM Unix using corporations. Extortion has become their business model.
I present this as the worst-case scenario. Luckily for us, the situation we're talking about here isn't so bad.
So here with WotC and NOA, we have again a Goliath being threatened by a smaller company that claims intellectual property violation. First of all, this isn't a suit about issues of card game mechanics, it's about personnel. I don't really see any company that would play Rich Uncle to WotC in this venture, unless Hasbro is truly "in for a penny, in for a pound" on this. I can't see NOA changing anything it's doing in response to the suit, just like IBM hasn't changed their practices. I don't see WotC as a company that will move to a licensing model of business (Magic is still very sucessful). I
do see this as a chastisement for what WotC might see as steamrollerish practices by a much larger company which tied its hands in many ways during the contract.
I don't think we need to take sides. I don't think we need to worry, because the game's not going away. What might happen, if NOA is shown to have benefited from proprietary information and WotC is shown to have losses, is that NOA will have to pay damages. So, let's sit back and see what happens, shall we? And if we get too bored, we can also check out the latest SCO news--and see how
not to run a lawsuit-in-progress. (i.e. Don't lie, exaggerate, and generally shoot yourself in the foot.)
PostScript
[Friendly Mode On] Arthas_Zero, I'm not a *dude*
, and spam is unsolicited commerical email, not humorous one-liners. The term "spam" is frequently misused in the forums, however, so I can understand your usage.[/Friendly Mode]
* see "I, Cringley" columns at PBS . org