Quoted from Dkjimbo:
If watching YOUR game get sold off to someone else at a premium price doesn't call you to action or inspire some sort of engagement...nothing will....its a really interesting study on human psychology really. very very hard to explain rationally what is going on here. Some people are OVERJOYED at the moment unboxing new games and boasting to the world, others are deeper and deeper in the hole but seemingly unwilling or uninspired to do anything about it.
It sucks that this happened to anyone.. and while I get that this being an international trade it muddies the water a bit, but in a capitalist economy "caveat emptor", let the buyer beware.
EA's spent $8k+ with DP on hopes and dreams of owning this game, some people got them, others got nothing. The EA's "contract" with Dutch Pinball ended when the Dutch court decided the games belonged to ARA and not DP, in order to cover debts owed. Can any EA's produce a legitimate contract or is it just a credit card receipt?
Once these games were determined to be owned by ARA, this created a new market, agnostic of all the EA's. All the dreamers out there that think these games should have been offered to EA's first, or some other carebear B.S. is delusional. ARA owes nothing to the EA's and is solely focused on recovering debts owed (by DP). Cointaker is just the middle man in this transaction, and it seems grey because they helped broker the original sales of these games.. but everyone should divorce themselves from this. To my knowledge they only offered refundable deposits on this games, and have maintained integrity throughout this ordeal.
EA's have four options.
1.) Do nothing and move on. (Or wait for DP to magically produce new games..)
2.) Buy one on the secondary (12,5k) or tertiary market (likely 12.5k+)
3.) Spend more money and individually file suit against DP. - A lawyer will likely cost more than what has already been spent, and legal costs are considered a "wash" and usually cannot be reclaimed in lawsuits. Finding one that is specialized in international trade on US and the Netherlands isn't going to be like your local Saul Goodman rate either. Then if a judgement is ruled in your favor, you still need to get money out of DP. If you think they have any capital left, you are delusional.
4.) Band together or attempt to file a class-action lawsuit. - If you can find a lawyer specialized in this situation, convince them that there is financial gain at the end for the risk they would need to put up, the EA's could likely win a judgement. But again, unless one of the EA's is a bloodthirsty lawyer, I sincerely doubt anyone is going to look at this and think there is any money left to be had. If this happens, likely DP will just declare bankruptcy and negate it all.. See "Predator"
Any chance for restitution against DP the EA's had resided with the games that ARA has just sold.
Predicting the future, I'll speculate that Dutch Pinball has many outstanding debts and will soon file bankruptcy. Those debts will be cataloged and prioritized, and paid out with any available capital or capital that can be raised through liquidation. Guess how much that will be.. ZERO. See "Heighway Pinball"..