Interplay: 'Bethesda never intended to honor contracts'

[Sander]

In the ongoing legal battle Interplay is fighting with Bethesda, Duck and Cover has a new court filing up with some information on Interplay's claims. <blockquote>Here are the general points that Interplay makes:<ul>[*]Bethesda's Statement of Facts Contains Inaccuracies[*]Bethesda's Actions Reflect Bad Faith[*]Interplay is a "Prevailing Party"[*]The Attorney's Fees Requested Are Reasonable and Consistent With the Court's Standards</blockquote>Basically, it appears Interplay is trying to argue that Bethesda only filed a Preliminary Injunction to mess with Interplay, and that since Interplay prevailed in that decision, Bethesda should pay the costs:<blockquote>"The same arguments made before the Court at the hearing of Bethesda's PI Motion are reiterated in the Opposition [to Interplay's request for court fees] and have no more merit now than they did on December 10, 2009. Interplay disputes many of the alleged "facts" asserted in Bethesda's Opposition. More specifically:

Interplay did not forfeit its rights to use the Fallout mark upon termination of the Trademark Licensing Agreement ("TLA") as alleged by Bethesda, because it did not breach the TLA and hence, no termination occurred. Since there was no breach, Interplay did not forfeit its rights and could not have infringed the Fallout mark."

...

"Interplay contends that Bethesda has evidence ongoing bad faith in connection with the PI Motion and that the entire lawsuit is an attempt to deny Interplay the benefits of the APA merchandising rights and the TLA MMOG rights."</blockquote>

 

[Dragula]

Isn't this kind of what NMA said from the beginning?

 

[.Pixote.]

I actually have to agree with Interplay (but my legal knowledge is 0). I might be a naïve twit, but Bethesda seems to have designed the contract deliberately for Interplay to fail. Sadly these companies treat each other as adversaries; a greater level of co-operation would have produced a more beneficial result for all parties.

 

[randy Mc rupp]

How should they co-operate. Interplay is pissed about losing the franchise. And Beth is pissed 'cos realized they won't ever be the "real owner". They have the name but they don't have the credibility.

 

[Per]

Isn't this kind of what NMA said from the beginning?

That Interplay could never raise the money, yes. But still no one forced Herve to sign the deal.

 

[analord]

What do they mean by 'bad faith?'

I don't know, I'd like to root for interplay since they're the home team, but aren't they all assholes really?

I'm not sure I comprehend the difference in whoever wins.

 

[Brother None]

What do they mean by 'bad faith?'

'good faith' is a legal term to denote that a contract is signed with full intention of both parties to fulfill their obligations and not interfere with the other's abilities to fulfill their obligations. Hence 'bad faith' is when you sign a contract never intending to fulfil it, or sign and then manipulate circumstances to harm your contract partner's abilities to fulfill their obligations, to your advantage. This last thing is what Interplay is alleging Bethesda has done.

 

[orionquest]

Isn't this kind of what NMA said from the beginning?

That Interplay could never raise the money, yes. But still no one forced Herve to sign the deal.

Sorry to step on your toes there but the raise money part is not a loss.

According to the Legal system, contract wordings are of utmost importance and the wording of the Fallout MMO TLA contract with Bethesda does not specify that the 30 million funding for the MMO must be in place all at once in a bank somewhere by the deadline.

If that was the case, then the contract would have stated that in the fine print.

Back to the topic of raising money. there are 3 avenues:

Masthead studios will be funding the game with 20 million in terms of engine and programming service + there is a possible other deal for 15 million

Once Interplay's stock skyrockets based on the buy the rumor sell the news syndrome of Wall Street, Interplay will be able to issue a secondary of shares at the higher price.

This will drop the stock price from a skyrocket high of a $1 to about .59 cents due to sell the news and dilution of shares.

Doing this will allow Interplay to raise about 30 million by themselves.

They also have the "bad faith" contract money raising route with Bethesda in that the Judge could find Bethesda guilty of that and issue punitive damages since Bethesda violated the contract first( which is critical in terms of causality) by preventing Interplay from advertising a Fallout MMO way before the deadline.

Bethesda is going to pay dearly for bringing this lawsuit against Interplay.

Hopefully more original Interplay developers of Fallout 1/2 will return as Interplay slowly gets back on its feet.

 

[konrad74]

How should they co-operate. Interplay is pissed about losing the franchise. And Beth is pissed 'cos realized they won't ever be the "real owner". They have the name but they don't have the credibility.

This is all giving me a headache. I really hope any of this bad blood gets on the New Vegas. ...

 

[el_jefe_of_ny]

Yeah, I cant see how this will benefit New Vegas at all.

It might make it rushed or something. Who knows.

I never understood why Interplay would never release another fallout prior to New Vegas. I know it didnt have a lot of money, but it had a lot of time and new it would make .... a lot of money. Enough for a few people working over years.

With the advent of Steam and independent publishers, games for 5-10 dollars have paid back budgets in a matter of days. I wish I know what really went on there for so long without a thing occuring.