VALIANT IP FIGHT OVER! - Dec. 28, 2007

Chuck · Post by **Chuck** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 4:50 am

dino wrote:http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=141085

During this time, VIP released an ashcan at the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con containing recognizable Valiant trademarks, such as Harbinger and Eternal Warrior, alongside completely unrecognizable character sketches. Despite trying to circumvent Valiant Entertainment’s copyrights, VIP’s attempted use of Valiant-related trademarks in an effort to strengthen their applications enabled Valiant Entertainment to file a lawsuit on August 29 against VIP in the Southern District of New York Federal Court for trademark infringement, unfair competition, false designation of origin, false description, and false representation. Last month, a settlement agreement was reached between the parties.

I hope VIP took this one in the shorts on the deal.

For VIP to gain ANYTHING out of this would be BS, friggin jerk-offs.

However, good news none the less.

CONGRATS TO DINO and company

ManofTheAtom · Post by **ManofTheAtom** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 7:43 am

Reached for comment to this announcement via their attorney Michael Lovitz, Valiant Intellectual Propeties, LLC issued Newsarama the following statement:

"The dispute has been settled to the satisfaction of both parties. We would like to thank Michael Lovitz of Connolly Bove Lodge & Hutz and Tim Pecsenye of Blank Rome for their work in finalizing this settlement. We wish VE good luck in their endeavors."

ManofTheAtom · Post by **ManofTheAtom** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 7:45 am

Since Dark Horse has been using the old Gold Key characters, it's a safe bet that a licensing arrangement has already been made with Dark Horse. Have no fear though. The new Valiant owners are using the same lawyers that represent Entertainment Rights PLC. It's amazing what you can get done when the lawyers are on your side.

Q

Interesting.

Draco · Post by **Draco** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 8:41 am

So finally who were VIP?

Also is there a deal being struck to get the gold key characters too so the whole thing can get under way once more.

GLEEEEEEEEEEEE !!!!!!

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 8:45 am

ManofTheAtom wrote:
Since Dark Horse has been using the old Gold Key characters, it's a safe bet that a licensing arrangement has already been made with Dark Horse. Have no fear though. The new Valiant owners are using the same lawyers that represent Entertainment Rights PLC. It's amazing what you can get done when the lawyers are on your side.

Q
Interesting.

Where is that quote from? It would be great if they were able to secure the GK characters as well. I'm sure that would be another big check that VEI would have to stroke.

ManofTheAtom · Post by **ManofTheAtom** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 8:55 am

400yrs wrote:
ManofTheAtom wrote:
Since Dark Horse has been using the old Gold Key characters, it's a safe bet that a licensing arrangement has already been made with Dark Horse. Have no fear though. The new Valiant owners are using the same lawyers that represent Entertainment Rights PLC. It's amazing what you can get done when the lawyers are on your side.

Q
Interesting.
Where is that quote from? It would be great if they were able to secure the GK characters as well. I'm sure that would be another big check that VEI would have to stroke.

From the Newsarama article, second page.

wrunow · Post by **wrunow** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 9:13 am

ManofTheAtom wrote:
400yrs wrote:
ManofTheAtom wrote:
Since Dark Horse has been using the old Gold Key characters, it's a safe bet that a licensing arrangement has already been made with Dark Horse. Have no fear though. The new Valiant owners are using the same lawyers that represent Entertainment Rights PLC. It's amazing what you can get done when the lawyers are on your side.

Q
Interesting.
Where is that quote from? It would be great if they were able to secure the GK characters as well. I'm sure that would be another big check that VEI would have to stroke.
From the Newsarama article, second page.

What VALIANT characters are DH using? I think newsarama is confusing the Solar and Magnus licenses.

ManofTheAtom · Post by **ManofTheAtom** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 9:15 am

wrunow wrote:What VALIANT characters are DH using? I think newsarama is confusing the Solar and Magnus licenses.

Um, that quote doesn't mention VALIANT characters, it says Gold Key

wrunow · Post by **wrunow** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 9:18 am

ManofTheAtom wrote:
wrunow wrote:What VALIANT characters are DH using? I think newsarama is confusing the Solar and Magnus licenses.
Um, that quote doesn't mention VALIANT characters, it says Gold Key

Yeah, I just picked up on that, too fast on the draw and need to read the whole quote word for word.

Man, I must be getting old.

Cyberstrike · Post by **Cyberstrike** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 10:06 am

The war is over and the right side won!

Brother J · Post by **Brother J** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 10:18 am

ManofTheAtom wrote:
Since Dark Horse has been using the old Gold Key characters, it's a safe bet that a licensing arrangement has already been made with Dark Horse. Have no fear though. The new Valiant owners are using the same lawyers that represent Entertainment Rights PLC. It's amazing what you can get done when the lawyers are on your side.

Q
Interesting.

The quote is from a poster in the thread (note the Q, it's DF1's other handle), not from someone with any connections to any of the companies involved.

ManofTheAtom · Post by **ManofTheAtom** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 10:19 am

Brother J wrote:The quote is from a poster in the thread (note the Q, it's DF1's other handle), not from someone with any connections to any of the companies involved.

Yeah, but maybe he knows something, no?

JustinOfDacia · Post by **JustinOfDacia** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 10:22 am

dino wrote:http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=141085

The trademark intellectual property fight between Valiant Entertainment and Valiant Intellectual Properties that has continued for two years in the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and in Federal Court is now over with Valiant Entertainment owning all Valiant-related trademarks, including Valiant Intellectual Properties-filed trademark applications.

The conflict began soon after Valiant Entertainment acquired all rights to the Valiant Comics library of characters from videogame publisher Acclaim Entertainment’s estate in June 2005. It was discovered that during the sale to Valiant Entertainment a newly formed company called Valiant Intellectual Properties LLC (VIP) had filed intent-to-use trademark applications for certain Valiant-related trademarks that were owned but not correctly renewed by Acclaim’s estate. These Valiant-related intent-to-use trademark applications included Valiant, Harbinger, Eternal Warrior, Rai and the Future Force, Quantum & Woody, Outcast, Dr. Mirage, The Visitor, Ninjak, Deathmate, Bloodshot, Punx, and Secret Weapons.

Valiant Entertainment filed oppositions to these VIP-filed trademark applications in the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. However, the process can take years to reach fruition and prevented the distribution by Diamond Comics Distributors of Valiant Entertainment’s highly-anticipated Harbinger: The Beginning hardcover collection featuring a new story by Jim Shooter. The hardcover collection was subsequently distributed by Valiant Entertainment directly to retailers.

During this time, VIP released an ashcan at the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con containing recognizable Valiant trademarks, such as Harbinger and Eternal Warrior, alongside completely unrecognizable character sketches. Despite trying to circumvent Valiant Entertainment’s copyrights, VIP’s attempted use of Valiant-related trademarks in an effort to strengthen their applications enabled Valiant Entertainment to file a lawsuit on August 29 against VIP in the Southern District of New York Federal Court for trademark infringement, unfair competition, false designation of origin, false description, and false representation. Last month, a settlement agreement was reached between the parties.

“The lawsuit Valiant Entertainment filed to protects its intellectual property against VIP LLC has been resolved to Valiant Entertainment’s satisfaction. Valiant Entertainment owns all copyrights and trademarks to the Valiant and Acclaim characters, including all right, title, interest, and associated goodwill to the VIP-filed trademark applications,” said Jason Kothari, CEO of Valiant Entertainment.

He added, “I would like to thank the loyal Valiant fans for their continued support and Blank Rome LLP for their outstanding work.”

Valiant Entertainment’s HARBINGER: THE BEGINNING hardcover collection featuring a new “Origin of Harada” story by comics’ legend Jim Shooter is being resolicited in the February 2008 issue of Diamond’s Previews.

Valiant Entertainment’s X-O MANOWAR: BIRTH hardcover collection featuring a new “The Rise of Lydia” story by Valiant co-architect Bob Layton and a new cover by Sean Chen is being solicited in the February 2008 issue of Diamond’s Previews and will be in stores in April 2008.

About Valiant Entertainment

Valiant Entertainment is a character-based entertainment company that owns and manages some of the most popular comic characters ever created across all media, including feature films, television, video games, new media, publishing, and consumer products. Since their creation in 1990, Valiant characters have sold 80 million comic books, 8 million video games, and Valiant became one of the three leading comic character-based companies globally. In addition, the “Valiant characters are often called the most important characters created since the Marvel revolution of the 1960s” (Sequart, 2006). VALIANT™ characters include X-O MANOWAR®, BLOODSHOT®, HARBINGER™, ETERNAL WARRIOR™, DOCTOR MIRAGE™, NINJAK™, SHADOWMAN®, RAI™, and QUANTUM & WOODY™, among many others. Visit ValiantEntertainment.com for more information.

And my anniversary is today!!! This is a good day!!!!

Daniel Jackson · Post by **Daniel Jackson** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 10:22 am

ManofTheAtom wrote:
Brother J wrote:The quote is from a poster in the thread (note the Q, it's DF1's other handle), not from someone with any connections to any of the companies involved.
Yeah, but maybe he knows something, no?

I seriously doubt it.

Brother J · Post by **Brother J** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 10:28 am

ManofTheAtom wrote:
Brother J wrote:The quote is from a poster in the thread (note the Q, it's DF1's other handle), not from someone with any connections to any of the companies involved.
Yeah, but maybe he knows something, no?

As far as I know (and you can ask him yourself if you want to), when it comes to this, DF1 probably knows what we know basically:

A. Dark Horse has been licensing Magnus and Solar from the company that owns them

B. VEI has the same lawyer as the people who own Magnus, Solar, and Turok

I think DF1 is basically speculating that since the lawyer is the same for both VEI and the owners of the Gold Key characters, that it's likely an agreement for licensing could be worked out easily. No idea if any licensing with Dark Horse will get in the way of that.

ManofTheAtom · Post by **ManofTheAtom** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 10:30 am

Brother J wrote:
ManofTheAtom wrote:
Brother J wrote:The quote is from a poster in the thread (note the Q, it's DF1's other handle), not from someone with any connections to any of the companies involved.
Yeah, but maybe he knows something, no?
As far as I know (and you can ask him yourself if you want to), when it comes to this, DF1 probably knows what we know basically:

A. Dark Horse has been licensing Magnus and Solar from the company that owns them

B. VEI has the same lawyer as the people who own Magnus, Solar, and Turok

I think DF1 is basically speculating that since the lawyer is the same for both VEI and the owners of the Gold Key characters, that it's likely an agreement for licensing could be worked out easily. No idea if any licensing with Dark Horse will get in the way of that.

Didn't Dark Horse claim that they were going to do some new stuff with Solar and Magnus but nothing came out of it?

Brother J · Post by **Brother J** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 10:32 am

ManofTheAtom wrote:
Brother J wrote:
ManofTheAtom wrote:
Brother J wrote:The quote is from a poster in the thread (note the Q, it's DF1's other handle), not from someone with any connections to any of the companies involved.
Yeah, but maybe he knows something, no?
As far as I know (and you can ask him yourself if you want to), when it comes to this, DF1 probably knows what we know basically:

A. Dark Horse has been licensing Magnus and Solar from the company that owns them

B. VEI has the same lawyer as the people who own Magnus, Solar, and Turok

I think DF1 is basically speculating that since the lawyer is the same for both VEI and the owners of the Gold Key characters, that it's likely an agreement for licensing could be worked out easily. No idea if any licensing with Dark Horse will get in the way of that.
Didn't Dark Horse claim that they were going to do some new stuff with Solar and Magnus but nothing came out of it?

hadn't heard, I do remember they did some kind of deck of cards which included I think both Magnus and Solar, but that might have just been promotional stuff for the reprint hardcovers.

ManofTheAtom · Post by **ManofTheAtom** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 10:33 am

Brother J wrote:hadn't heard, I do remember they did some kind of deck of cards which included I think both Magnus and Solar, but that might have just been promotional stuff for the reprint hardcovers.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking about. Didn't the cards hint at new projects outside the reprints?

Brother J · Post by **Brother J** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 10:34 am

ManofTheAtom wrote:
Brother J wrote:hadn't heard, I do remember they did some kind of deck of cards which included I think both Magnus and Solar, but that might have just been promotional stuff for the reprint hardcovers.
Yeah, that's what I was thinking about. Didn't the cards hint at new projects outside the reprints?

Never bought them, so I'm not much help here, sorry.

Geomancer · Post by **Geomancer** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 12:57 pm

Excellent news!

Now we can get down to the questions we really should have started off with...

What is their vision for a re-launch?

When will it happen? (on the shelves & continuity)

Will it include any of the Gold Key properties?

These are the answers I am waiting to hear. Its unfortunate that the question of trademark issues eclipsed them for so long.

dino · Post by **dino** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 1:49 pm

Big thanks to dan and cinlach for posting in the newsarama thread. If anyone else is a member there please post in the valiant talk backs.

betterthanezra · Post by **betterthanezra** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 1:54 pm

Brother J wrote:
ManofTheAtom wrote:
Brother J wrote:hadn't heard, I do remember they did some kind of deck of cards which included I think both Magnus and Solar, but that might have just been promotional stuff for the reprint hardcovers.
Yeah, that's what I was thinking about. Didn't the cards hint at new projects outside the reprints?

Never bought them, so I'm not much help here, sorry.

I was always under the impression it was only for the reprints...

Licen. for that purpose only. I'm sure that at the same time DH picked up this for the reprints IBooks has the rights for Magnus with NEW original stories that went REAL well

-Brian

childres · Post by **childres** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 4:20 pm

Finally read the boards today. This is great news for all true VALIANT fans!

-Joe

BloodOfHeroes · Post by **BloodOfHeroes** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 4:46 pm

Very nice, Greg!

The Harbinger · Post by **The Harbinger** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 5:42 pm

Great to know the stories won't be delayed anymore

However, people are saying the trashcans will go down. I think they could be worth a pretty penny in the future since there were only a hundred made.

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VALIANT IP FIGHT OVER! - Dec. 28, 2007

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