I don't see how sales between US customers and a US based company (DP USA) would ever be affected by exchange rates... Transactions between the two companies, DP USA and DP, would be independent from whatever is going on here

A lot of people just lost their pre-order virginity...

Lol, yeah be pissed off at Goodman for not signing away his rights for free... Don't place any blame on the company who decided they could use his likeness anyway they wanted without his permission?

You get a free rug sometimes!

Ok well then the promise of a rug... If that doesn't suit your fancy, perhaps a shaker motor, some companies offer that... Perhaps a special plaque with your very own machine number on it, but just to be clear you'll need to pony up an extra $100-$300 if you'd like to pick that number... If nothing else you get months of anticipation and loss of any gains you could have had from investing your money wisely... If that's not enough, assuming your machine actually does arrive, you get bragging rights! That's right you get to come on Pinside and tell others how your machine, with its wanky code, was the very first to arrive! Who wouldn't want a part of that?

I dunno... He's a smart enough guy that they trusted him with their marketing up to this point... I don't think he'd run the risk of libel on top of possible civil repercussions without knowing where the company stands... If the guy in charge of their US sales, acquiring licenses, and marketing tells you the owners are siphoning off money and are unable to acquire the necessary licenses to sell their product... I'd consider holding onto my money before giving it to the company in question who is offering no benefit for pre-ordering (except possibly a rug...)

If what you are saying is true, you really need to drop the whole "friends" issue. You are accusing people of fraud and have acknowledged that you were a party to said fraud. You've also noted that a company in which you held a managerial position in participated in various copyright infringements and other forms of intellectual property theft, which you had knowledge of. You really need a lawyer, because you were in a position to act and have not done so. Merely backing out and claiming no responsibility isn't an option at this point. Either what you said is true and you too are responsible to some extent or this is all a fabrication. Either way, I'd consult your lawyer to figure out what recourse you have rather than looking to the pinside community to grant you justice.

I mean it's really a matter of interpretation, but the way I read that is that it will be possible for Universal to get the necessary approvals from other cast members (Bridges, Moore, Buscemi, etc.) to sign off on the use of their likenesses and what not (perhaps they still have active contracts with these actors still related to the project) but that Universal is unable/unwilling to secure Goodman's approval... Meaning Goodman would have to be licensed seperately... Universal has rights to the movie and a predetermined set of marketing images, slogans, and what not... They don't have the rights to manipulate TBL anyway they want, because just like any story, movie, etc. the writers, directors, actors and so forth have their own names on it and retain a certain degree of control over how they are represented... But again, the original statement is pretty vague, so it's really a matter of interpretation and who knows what larger context this fragment of a statement was said in?

Hmm... What exactly do they need to figure? Barry needs Jaap's permission to tell everyone that DP does in fact have the licenses in place and this is all a lie? This is a pretty black and white issue, did they produce these machines in violation of US law or not? Phil says they did... Somehow I don't think a meeting of the minds is going to clear this one up...

Does seem like a first come, first served situation and given his claim that some of the money has already been filtered out of the company, doesn't seem like there will be enough to go around...