An update on our previous report on Harmony Gold’s attempted suit against Hasbro, over the San Diego Comic Con 2013 exclusive GI Joe VS Transformers Jetfire set. According to papers posted on PACER and reposted by Generals Joes, the case “is dismissed in its entirity with prejudice”.
Effectively what this means is Harmony Gold and Hasbro have settled the case out of court. What that settlement entailed is not set out, chances are the general fandom public will never know.
LegendAntihero
It's so good they were able to settle it. Now people who didn't go to SDCC can buy it online
WilyMech
I am so glad I am not lawyer.
As for funpub I was never a member.
warriorpriest
Glad to know i wasn't the only one on the whole forum to get picked.
Paladine
I'll be letting my set from FunPub expire too. Don't want it
warriorpriest
Anyone want my my set from FunPub? If so I need to know by tonight. Of not i will let them lotto it to someone else.
CKSpawn
That was the first thing that came to my mind when I saw a gen 1 Jetfire remake.
Cool he looks like a Macross witch kinda looks like a giant verson of the Robotech jet mech thing.
sh002
Wish they could someday reissue Jetfire. I'd love a MISB one.
ACE STRIKER
Im sure funpub is not going to ship them internationally for that $150 boys. So im sure you will have $180+ in them. Going price on Ebay all day long. No deal there.
Powersa
Wait, there're Joe fans outside of the US?
warriorpriest
True on the outside of the US part, but HTS is currently sold out.
Exclusives at HasbroToyShop.com | G.I. JOE TRANSFORMERS JETFIRE VEHICLE Product Details
Well at least at the time of me posting this reply.
G.B. Blackrock
Seems like it was known way back when that Fun Pub would charge more than Hasbro (they usually do when they do something like this). The only real benefit vs. buying from HTS (assuming HTS still has stock, of course) is that more folks not in the US can have access.
warriorpriest
I guess so. The funny thing is they want 30 bucks more then what hasbro was charging. I honestly doubt i will get it. I may check to see if anyone wants to buy it from me or let it go back into the drawing pool.
Armistice7
Hard to say. It was out of stock when I checked last night but was back in stock this morning so I made a purchase. It is now currently out of stock again.
G.B. Blackrock
So they ARE going ahead with the sale after all. Glad to know (cue complaint that no one was told about this in advance, poor communication from Fun Pub, yadda, yadda, yadda…).
warriorpriest
I got one of the lucky draw emails from Funpub. Anyone else get one??
Omegax80
And it's still for sale… guess there isn't a rush to grab this anymore…
03Mach1
Aren't you glad you took the time, deceptilaw?
SPLIT LIP
Ye. We found that out a while ago. Hasbro basically curb-stomped them out of court.
SemiOmegaPrime
Now that the SDCC set is being sold at HasbroToyShop.com, is it likely that Hasbro prevailed?
deceptilaw
It's true we don't know. BUT, almost no case in the United States is settled without the payment of money. Trust me, I've settled a ton of cases myself. Monies were paid to Harmony Gold. (I have only had one settlement that did not result in the payment of monies. Non-monetary settlements are rare.)
For those of you who want to think Hasbro won, you might be right, depending on how much Hasbro paid. According to the filings, Hasbro was engaging in settlement discussions in August and September. Given that settlement occurred without any discovery, Hasbro probably paid something that was generous to Harmony Gold but was far below the cost to defend an intellectual property case.
The reasons for settlement are plain in this case. The cost of victory for Hasbro would be high. It was in the position of fighting a case with costs in the low to mid six-figures over a one-off toy that, in all liklihood, resulted in very little or no profit that was aimed at a very small contingent of Hasbro's business (the adult collector). As a lawyer, you would have to advise your client to settle this one quickly, though I'm sure that was Hasbro's marching orders from the beginning.
For those expecting (1) the raffle from the Collectors Club or (2) a Masterpiece Jetfire toy that resembles the original 1985 toy, I have bad news for you. That is probably another piece of the settlement. I would expect that Harmony Gold sought and obtained in the settlement an agreement from Hasbro (1) to not distribute the offending Sky Striker toy and (2) to refrain, in the future, from repoducing similar toys. The reason TFCC would be disallowed from the raffle is that it is an official licensor of the product. Legal agreements to refrain from doing something, such as distributing a toy, always cover affiliated partners and agents.
Hasbro would agree to that, I think, because it concerns a toy mold from 1985 that it has never tried to reproduce before. The character "Jetfire", as we have seen, can take on a very different form with respect to future toys (see all the Jetfire toys besides the original.) From a business standpoint, it is a no-brainer.
Hasbro probably had some good defenses to the suit. Asserting those defenses would be expensive. Winning cases can be risky. Hasbro did what 99.9% of all defendants do: it settled.