Based on the outcome of the US election, I highly doubt it.

If only the unlicensed products were of the same high quality as the licensed products.

Funny how PPS and Classic Arcades are posting in the same thread....

Indeed. Rick hired someone that fits his mold. Two peas in a pod.

Replacement boards ARE NOT covered by any licencing or copyright laws as they stand. A replacement board WOULD infringe if it claimed to actually BE the original or NOS etc.

?
The pps link right above yours only says Williams and Bally.

Steve Young still has Gottlieb, AFAIK. (He did, at least, as of this past June..)

He bought out Mondial?

You don't say.

The ol' threaten them by mentioning the Blu-Ray FBI WARNING screen gag. Gets 'em shakin' in their boots every time!

pirates_get_better_DVD_experience (resized).jpg

The good news is that this thread still qualifies for the "Dumbest Thread of 2016" award.

Mr. Personality helps the world's food producers maintain profitability.

The so-called Lawyer posting threats sure reminds me of Lyle Hutz on The Simpsons. Very professional. I hope he gets disbarred for the garbage he posted.

BUT...it's VERY interesting to see these two jabbing at each other in public.

Bam! Drop the mic!

And Elvis has left the building ladies and gentlemen.......

Hi Pete-

Are you the same "PeteB" that has been posting on various thread about cabinet decals from RetroRefurbs? If so it might have been nice to have clarified your relationship.

I noticed your decals seem to ship from Slovenia; is any of the decal work being done in the UK?

Well, I'll be placing an order soon. Thank you for offering products that are not currently being reproduced anywhere else.

Great seller; would buy from again.

Isnt a general rule of documentation to have a signed date?
I dont see a document date OR a signed date.
Would this document actually hold up in a court?

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Id be surprised if Rick knew the difference between left and right. He likes to talk tough and show a big hand but in reality, its all smoke and mirrors. Its a shame such a company, that could make so many people happy, ONLY cares about themselves. It was about a year ago a vowed to never send Rick a dime and I never will.

Amen to that...and sucks to the refakes!

interesting that that letter above states "mechanical and electro-mechanical pinball machines" so would that mean games up to the point and not including solid state and dmd era games.

also nice to have an offical release of trademarked protected game titles

Yes, when it comes to the hobbyist and modding community.
The year was 1997, or thereabouts, long before WMS Black Friday.
It ramped up after 2000-2001.
It was pretty nasty in the mid 2000s.
However, from the industry perspective it was about 50+ years, back in the 1960s during some of the serious WMS/Gottlieb periods with copyright and patent pinball infractions.
This does not consider copycat games either from external US companies.

This has been going on for a long time, and is a legitimate concern.
International Law prohibits the same infractions, if you understand the history with some of the other suppliers.
Do some searching if you want to know some of the parties involved, as I not dragging people into a fight today or opening old wounds that still have significant scarring.
This is in effect as long as it is enforceable and coherent, which can be difficult without some sort of US industry ties.

My only perspective for the good of the hobby/industry/parts suppliers/manufacturers is this simple personal quote:
"Make more game specific replacement parts, not more remakes or re themes, and the entire collector hobby will benefit more and there will be less complaining."

As the Original Licensee Let me explain some facts

Copyright is 75 years past the life of the Author, so you would have to remake Bally Williams Artwork without Trademarks older than 75 years at least for it be exempt.

Trademarks are registered Williams Bally for Sure, and cannot be used without the registered Trademark owners permission.

You also are using 3rd party Trademarks without permission, Game Trademarks, Movie Studio Trademarks as well.

I would not be wanting to take on a 300 Million Dollar Company being the owners of The Williams Bally Trademarks and Copyrights.

PPS as the exclusive Licensee have permission to act on behalf of the Trademark and copyright owners.

Under the Digital Media Copyright I would see your website also shut down soon until all infringing material is removed.

I am sure Gottlieb and Data east owners will be the next to get in touch.

I would have your Lawyer contact the Lawyer on the letter supplied by PPS.

I know the PPS Lawyer and can confirm he is one of the Best Trademark and Copyright Lawyers in the USA with offices all over the World.

PS I have seen your artwork and it is crap, crap vinyl, crap quality print and its not Next Gen, I bet you don't even know what next Gen is?

Charity or not, donate to Charity with rights you own not others.

that means not digital virtual pinball or pc or phone rights

Williams licensed those rights out to others with the same conditions PPS has.

This thread is why I can never completely stop visiting pinside

Whether he has the right to make those products or not, the claim on the Facebook page is ridiculous. Make a claim on the website, but the Facebook page had no reason to get hit.

Has anyone ordered decals from Retro Refurbs. How is the quality? I plan on ordering a few.

I have heard their Baywatch and Twister decals are second to none.

I can see enforcing a copyright claim against something you are producing, but for the hobbyist that is left without because you don't produce it, why not just wait until you cross that bridge. When PPS bought the rights, they knew this stuff existed on many fronts (and would likely continue to pop up), why not tackle it all right away instead of doing these little jabs/threats here and there? IMO it makes PPS look petty, especially having their legal counsel post on the pinball forum. If you have the ability to enforce the copyright, then handle it professionally instead of just singing about it on pinside every month.

I think the best way to protect your copyrights is by actually making and selling the shit people need!

You might want to get your lawyer to have another look at that. You again insinuate that anyone purchasing unlicensed goods is breaking the law.

Not true. The art of the layout is copyrighted. Copying the schematic verbatim without edits is also a copyright violation.

HEY......would you stop with that making logic and common sense shit? We have lawsuits to push and communities to threaten...

WTF do you think you are -___o ?

Like all things legal - it isn't as simple or clean cut as you make it. Yes, the layout is certainly copyrighted IF and ONLY if it is copied EXACTLY. The schematic diagram DRAWING would also be copyright if copied exactly BUT NOT the actual electronic circuit - IE the collection of electronic components that make up a particular circuit.

The circuit is an entirely different matter. There is no, and has never been, any claim on copyright of an electronic circuit. This has been tested many times in court.

Really ? Issuing threats with erroneous claims are the actions of one of the best lawyers in the USA ?

Actually the High Court of Australia have affirmed in relevant copyright cases (Nintendo v Centronics for one) it does not need to be an exact copy to give rise to infringement.

In the Centronics case, the company manufactured a chip which contained an IC that was found to be substantially similar to the Nintendo IC. This substantial similarity test against the Nintendo IC was sufficient to constitute a breach of the Circuit Layouts Act and Nintendo's IP rights.

Accordingly injunctive relief and damages including an account of profits plus costs were awarded to Nintendo. Centronics and its owner directors subsequently declared bankruptcy after being unable to service the judgement.

All I can say is every now and then some idiot comes along and costs the licensee legal costs etc to enforce.

I had a $50k a year budget for legal and you the customer paid in the end, all we did was put up the prices on parts nobody else has. to recover the legal fees, as a cost of running a business.

Williams rights owners and PPS will never stop enforcing their rights at any cost.

They will take away manuals and roms etc like gottlieb did to recover the costs

I understand its a hobby to you but its a business to them, that cost them a lot of money.

There are many art related items that will never been remade due to 3rd party rights owners as well.

Bally Pinball do you still retain the rights to make MM parts? It's been many years so would it be incorrect to assume that your project of reproducing MM machines or even the production of "original"parts by you has been shuttered for good?

The good thing about this thread is that it introduced me to the decals that retro refurbs sells which I didn't know about before. Thanks Rick! This also goes to show how petty PPS is and why people should avoid giving them money at all costs. Hey Rick put your big boy pants on.

Is this Wayne? If it is or if it isn't I believe that Mr. Pinball Australia stymied the growth of this hobby for over half a decade and was one of the most incompetent "companies" in the history of private or public enterprise.

If this is Wayne then anything you have to say about this particular situation is immediately discounted.

WTF does Rick do for pinball anyway? Nothing positive that I can see. Just buy the rights and hoard it all so nobody can get what they need, then sue them if they try. What a douche move. They could have done something awesome but instead they just took it all away.

Proof of how sloppy Lawyers as well as their clients can be. Amazing that a member of the technical staff, such as a VP of Engineering did not get asked to sign off on those statements. If there is no one with pinball experience still on at Scientific Games (There are at least two technical people with Williams and Bally pinball knowledge at the Company as far as I know, who could have helped with the details in that letter) then outside consultants could have been used as there are several available to Scientific Games.

Another example how another Lawyer can possibly get a case dismissed during Discovery.

So there it is, it's official. Rick can take his threats regarding any solid state and DMD era games by Williams / Bally and stick them where the sun doesn't shine.

Don't see how
Wayne was willing to grant licences so that others could make reproduction parts
Gene just sat on his rights