Mechwarrior Online - Unofficial hype thread - Free-2-Play PC exclusive - Open Beta on the 16th

[zarx]

MrBubbles said:

zarx said:

MrBubbles said:

im confused...they licensed a license? or they bought a license to use the material off a license holder? if there was an agreement for party B to use the material of party A, how can party C come and buy those rights off party B without any dealings with A?

They licenced the rights to the licence (well the rights to make a game bassed on the license anyway) that the original rights holder had recently re-acquired from Microsoft.  lol that's why it's taken so long for a new Mechwarrior it's a bit of a legal nightmare and MS weren't interested in using the licence themselves but were still holding on to it.

it pretty clearly states they were only licensed from microsoft

it's a confusing minefeild and a legal quagmire, with at least 3 different parties owning parts of the licence and then other parts are cross licensed bettween them. From what I understand Microsoft still owns the rights to the name MechWarrior for use in a videogame which they brought off the origonal creator, the actual ip including "most" of the mech designs and names is owned by Topps and some are owned by Jordan Weisman himself. But Jordan also has licensed the digital rights from Microsoft which he is then sub licensing to the developer.

Or something like that