waters7

I was first exposed to Macross thru a bootleg copy of a small SDF-1 and Roy's valkyrie that my mom bought for me at a local farmers market (AKA Swapmeet) in Ensenada, Mexico circa 1985 (I was 4 at the time). I then catched Robotech first thru a US channel in late 85 and then in spanish in 1987. My second and real exposure to Macross came in 1993 when I bought DYRL in LD on this anime store that used to be located in Torrence. I first thought that the LD was related to Robotech. I felt in love with the music from DYRL. A couple of years later I saw the VHS of Macross II and Macross Plus at a sam goody in NYC. It wasnt until 1995 that I learned the really difference of Macross and Robotech.

Tommy must be full of hot air then because there is no such thing as statue of limitations in trademark infringement. Actually no, Manga has been handling Robotech DVD distribution in Europe since the first Robotech Remastered edition came out circa 2004. I really doubt it that HG is turning a blind eye to Mac II & Plus distribution just because Manga happens to be playing ball with them with the distribution of Robotech... is like saying that HG was willing to turn a blind eye on toycom's Mac Plus valkyrie distribution just because they were willing to do some Robotech veritechs too. Has any one seen the amazing cover of the french Robotech Shadow Chronicles DVD??? For your pleasure Edit: typos

I can probably take pics (as my scanner is currently out of commission thanks to my 11 month old daughter) of the whole booklet and post them here.. or is there any other thread where u want the pics posted?

Yes I do.. what do you mean with share? you mean like posting the whole booklet or posting higher resolution pics of the images?

This is indeed, a great website with production Art. Sorry for the off topic... although this is no production art, never the less is very good MOSPEADA art

This is the main purpose of trademark law however, my comment is related specifically to trademark dilution. Again, my comment was related to trademark dilution. If I was apple, on your particular example I will file a case of trademark infringement under the basis of likelihood of confusion and not dilution. To be honest, I do not believe that Macross Plus and II slipped by them especially when you consider that during that time, Robotech was rather active in the home video market, comic and let's not forget, the little revival that was Robocon 10. I'm a firm believer that HG will lose any case of trademark infringement related to Macross Frontier, Seven, Zero and Plus.

Let's try this one last time Your theory about BW being able to register the trademark sounds like a "tin foil hat conspiracy theory" Please provide proof or documentation that supports this scenario of yours. It sure sounds simple enough but is never as simple as it seems. If this were the case, we wouldn't have marks like Pine Tree, Pine-sol; Microsoft, Micros; etc. It looks like the thing that you fail to understand is that trademark infringement is always decided on: Proximity of the goods Strength of the mark (and no, just because the mark is spelled the same way it does not make it a strong mark) Similarity of the marks Evidence of actual confusion Marketing channels used Type of goods and the degree of care likely to be exercised by the purchaser Defendant’s intent in selecting the mark Likelihood of expansion of the product lines I have yet to find an actual case that was decided on "first use". If you do have evidence, please do share So, now you are implying that BW lost their trademark on Macross Plus because HG used Macross back in the 80's. Please enlight me, where is the evidence to this. Enlight me again, how is it dilution? From Wikipedia: Trademark dilution is a trademark law concept giving the owner of a famous trademark standing to forbid others from using that mark in a way that would lessen its uniqueness. In most cases, trademark dilution involves an unauthorized use of another's trademark on products that do not compete with, and have little connection with, those of the trademark owner. For example, a famous trademark used by one company to refer to hair care products might be diluted if another company began using a similar mark to refer to breakfast cereals or spark plugs.[1]. So by definition, if Macross Frontier, Macross 7 and Macross Zero were to be distributed in the US, we can all agree that all those shows will be in direct competition with HG's products. Back at you dude

Right... then please explain how come Big West was able to trademark Macross Plus in the US if HG has been using the name Macross since 1984? Again, right... This is your simplistic assumption on this matter. Let's assume that we go to court to this. According to you Terry, Under what specific terms will this be trademark infringement? What could be use as proof? What would be your argument? Under what terms specifically? Trademark infringement cases are very complex in regards to establishing the actual proof under the terms that I described on a previous post and more importantly, convincing a court that the proof is irrefutable. I don't want to point the obvious but this kind of case costs lots of time and money. Distribution companies are here to make a buck, not spend time and money on a matter that might not bring revenue at all. FYI: that example that you posted for Vail Assocs. v. Vend-Tel-Co., Ltd. I hate to break it to you but Vail Assocs (the plaintiff) lost the case because they were unable to provide proof for the likelihood of confusion that they were claiming under the Lanham Act The fact that they registered and use the trademark before Vend-Tel-Co. had nothing to do with the outcome of this case.

You keep insisting that the trademark is based on first use but have yet to provide any actual proof of this being exercised in a trademark infringement case.

Trademark registration is a fairly simple process taking in consideration that all you need to present is: Name and address of the applicant for correspondence A list of the goods and/or services provided with the mark Proof that the mark has been used in commerce by the applicant (This can be voided if the applicant presents proof of intention to use it in the future) Payment for the trademark registration A clear drawing of the mark and a specimen of the trademark Keep in mind that in the US, you can use a word or combination of words as a trademark regardless if someone else is already using the same word or combination of words as a trademark. The thing that really makes the difference on this matter is the type of goods or services related to the trademark and the mark itself (the drawing) In the case of HG, their Macross mark shares nothing with Macross Plus, Frontier; etc. It the case of Macross II, HG’s Macross mark is practically the same as the logo for Macross II but even then, if HG ever files a case of trademark infringement, they still have to proof in court the following: Proximity of the goods Strength of the mark Similarity of the marks Evidence of actual confusion Marketing channels used Type of goods and the degree of care likely to be exercised by the purchaser Defendant’s intent in selecting the mark Likelihood of expansion of the product lines HG has been able to get a free pass with their trademark because no distribution company will go through the hassle of litigation and the costs associated with say litigation and obviously, since the non Japanese market is probably peanuts to Big West compared to their Japanese market, I do not foresee BW going to court any time soon. If you want more information about trademarks, I suggest the following links US Trademark Wikipedia Trademark infringement examples of trademark infringement cases An example of a company with the same trademark tactics like HG

Just a little bit of food for thought Edge Games claiming ownership of the word Edge reminds me of HG and their Macross trademark Funny that you mention this Tom. Unless some one takes HG to court and proves their trademark squatting, there is nothing illegal going on

I Bought my DVD circa summer 1999 from an online store that had both DVDs Unfortunately for me, the LD presentation DVD cost twice as much than the standard one. At the time I did not know how to buy from places like yahoo japan or japanese online stores and to be honest with you and I did not learn about the these two options until 2001. Since i'm done buying the macross chronicles (my last 10 volumes will arrive this monday) now I can focus in buying DYRL remastered (the one with the booklet) and frontier

Actually dude, if you need to know, I had a loss in my family... and you know, those things take priority over popping on this thread every day. Going back to the topic, I see that you take pride in how "accurate" and "well informed" you are so it's rather odd for you to take a comment that some else made at a chat and passing it as fact. As I told you and showed you before, I have a lot of Robotech material and outside of the reference made about using NBC guidelines on children's programming, I never heard or read that Macek was in any way influenced by a network executive in the production of Robotech. This is of interest to me, especially since i'm trying to put together an accurate description of the Robotech production process for my spanish Robotech website.

Hi Akim, I can definitely post some pics of the MOSPEADA booklet on the thread in question (no scans thou) This booklet has the most complete, detailed map of the group's travel to what in Robotech is known as Reflex Point. I remember when this first came out, I was very tempting in buying it. Since I was in college at the time and my budget was very limited, I had to settle on the less fancy edition (the standard DVD case) otherwise, I would have spent 6 months eating nothing but ramen noddles and kool aid (for the record, buying the DVD only kept me on this diet for 3 months )

Speaking of comics, Wildstorm (the publishers of such comics as Love & War and Invasion), is closing its doors That sucks, especially since I was looking forward to another trade paperback of rehash enhanced and new material for the lover & war stories Seto, what ever happened to that source of yours were supposedly Carl Macek admits that he was influenced by a network executive on the production of Robotech? Edit: for typos

That link has been there forever It does not provide any relevant information outside of a brief mention

Actually, this is trademark related. Let's take Microsoft for example: Microsoft is a trademark but never the less, the company does not hold exclusive rights on the words "micro" or "soft". This is why you have other tech companies that use Micro and Soft in their branding without getting into trademark disputes with Microsoft. HG might have Macross as a trademark, but if they were to go to trial for Trademark infringement for the word macross, they will have to prove (because the burden of proof lies with them) a few things in court like the proximity of the goods, similarity of the marks and evidence of confusion among other things. Also, last time I checked, going into court for trademark infringement is a costly process for both the plaintiffs and the defendants, so, if HG was to get in a legal dispute for trademark infringement, I am sure it will cost them lots of money.

Please point me to the document where is clearly stated that Big West was trying to regain the international distribution and merchandise rights for SDF Macross on the trials in question. According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the first of HG's Macross trademarks (because there are several) was originally filed on July 1999. Almost one whole year before the Toycom fiasco and before the trials from Japan. I feel that you are elaborating under a misconception of how trademarks really work. Not that i'm saying that i'm a master either. Big West does not need to regain the international distribution/merchandise rights of SDF Macross in order to distribute Macross Frontier, Zero or Macross 7 in North America. You see, those rights are independent from the SDF Macross rights. Any company that decides to bring any products outside of SDF Macross can do so. Of couse, there is a big possibility that HG will make a hell of a legal fuss about that. If you want my personal opinion on this matter, I think that HG will have a hard time proving "similarity" or "likelihood of confusion" between SDF Macross and a show like Macross Frontier. I really think that HG will loose big time but going to court for trademark infringment is a financial burden and this is why companies like Animeigo or Funimation would rather pay a small fee to HG instead of going to court and possibly expending hundred times more money and time doing so. I wonder what is stopping a company like Animeigo from releasing Macross Frontier as Frontier only How was this an issue for Big West? If this was a complaint as you stated, Big West has to provide a detailed explanation of the reason behind the complaint.

I also collect VHS. I will be taking some pictures of them some time these week and i'll make sure to post them here. About the LDs, I'm only missing the Challenge Game and the 15 anniversary Memorial Box but for the longest time, I thought that I was also missing the Mecha Griffiti special on LD but I just confirmed that it does not exist.

You couldn't be more off mark. The whole problem started when HG all of the sudden decided to make a profit with Macross by registering the brand Macross in the US and other countries. With this, technically any company that wants to bring any other Macross show/product (besides Macross II and Plus) to the US, now has to negotiate with HG in order to use the name Macross. I said technically because HG could be taken to court for trademark squatting but this will definitely will be more expensive than licensing the brand from HG. The court cases from Japan never stipulated that Big West was disputing the international distribution/merchandise rights of SDF Macross. In fact, one of the points made during the first trial (This one here) made reference to the compensation received by Tatsunoko for the work done on SDF Macross. Needless to say, this reference is the clause on the contract between Big West and Tatsunoko that clearly state that Tatsunoko received International distribution and merchandise rights to the show. By establishing full copyright of the characters in question, this gave Big West all the access they needed to continue producing new material with these characters. Therefore, if any other company like Tatsunoko or HG all of the sudden decided to create, let's say a movie with these characters, they will have to obtain a license from Big West first in order to do so. I think we can all agree that Big West is way past the international distribution/merchandise rights of SDF Macross. They are about to launch their 2nd Macross Frontier movie and I really doubt that regaining access to these copyrights is of any concern to them.

Here is my MAcross LD Collection The Box Sets: SDF Macross Memorial Box (1st Edition), Macross II, Macross Plus, Macross 7 Fire Box I y II The Macross Special (Vol 1 & 2) SDF Macross Memorial Box 1st Edition SDF Macross (vol 1-9) DYRL Box Set, DYRL 1st Edition, DYRL Engrish dub, DYRL Widescreen Edition and Flashback 2012 Macross II Box Set, Macross II Vol 1-6 Macross Plus International Edition, Macross Plus Manga Edition Vol 1-4, Macross Plus vol 1-4, Macross Plus Movie Edition Macross 7 Vol 1-12 Macross 7 Vol 13, Macross 7 Encore, Macross 7 The Movie, Macross 7 Dynamite OVA 1-4 Macross 7 Fire Box I Macross 7 Fire Box II I also happen to have: MOSPEADA Box set Southern Cross Box Set Robotech The Macross Saga Robotech The Masters, Robotech II The Sentinels

Gonzo?? What happened to Dr Movie? Maybe you need to get off the juice, you are making up a lot of facts.

The site in question is in spanish Yo busqué y encontré is spanish for I looked and I found It looks like the owner of the site shamelessly took the banner for Macross World

Here is my Macross LP/CD collection with some Orguss, Mospeada and Southern Cross LPs and CDs I also included two bootleg CDs (gifts from some online shop) Macross LPs Orguss, MOSPEADA and Southern Cross LPs Macross CDs

This sounds like an explanation from Shaloom (macross generation) Moving forward. When did Tommy became "one of the leading japanese anime artists in the world"? http://cbs13.com/video/?id=75957 Have you ever heard that podcast? A few weeks ago both MEMO and Juan were talking about Macross the First manga and MEMO went on a streak of claims. According to him, Macross II and some other TV show use Robotech as inspiration for their production on concepts. Of course, he fails to even explain or back up his claims but hey, he is the voice of Tommy in the spanish community right?