Netherlands

My opinion:
DP can only sue ARA and have a chance of winning and getting money out of it, if DP continues exists for a long time.. such legal process can take years and is expensive. So that countersue you're talking about is not going to happen if DP goes broke.

That's probably exactly what Nivoge/ARA are waiting for - DP to go broke.
N/A have more money than DP and probably can wait years, and they know DP can't.
If DP goes bankrupt they can't sue ARA anymore. Legal threat solved.

Now why does N wants a controlling interest in DP ? To be able to legally sell the assembled games. Nothing more.
Maybe continue assembling some more games until the parts are all used.
I really don't expect ARA to continue developing new pinball games (like BOP3 or anything else), as that's not their core business.
That's probably also why they hadn't started ordering parts for the new game - they just want to get rid of TBL.

Right now all the TBL parts and games are worthless for ARA. They can't legally sell them.
Financially that's a huge write-off for ARA - unless they somehow acquire the right to sell them.

How do they get this ?
N/A forces DP in the 51% ownership deal. Easiest way to do it.
If that doesn't work: a more risky way: N/A just delays things, hopes some owners start to sue DP so they go broke, or DP runs out of money and quits themselves..
When DP gets liquidated, make an offer and buy the rights. Sell the games ARA have in stock. Profit.

Probably not a cheap offer but just for the amount DP still owns ARA. The only risk for ARA is that some other investor bids more for the liquidation.

ARA is the only winner in this scenario. Their open invoice to DP gets paid anyhow (either because another investor comes, or they can sell the TBL games themselves). If they take over DP then it's probably good for owners as ARA should respect all contracts with buyers (and respect who has pre-paid). If DP goes bankrupt then it's worse for owners, then all your money is gone and you can't claim it anywhere. For ARA that's even more profitable then as they don't take over the debts/obligations from DP (they can sell all the TBL games for full profit and don't care about pre-payment money).

Worst case scenario for ARA: DP finds a new contractor, and a lawsuit between DP and ARA continues for years and the finished stock remains at ARA until it's totally worthless in a few years. Who wins or loses the lawsuit almost doesn't matter. It's expensive (and a loss) for all parties).

Wow this is excellent news (if it all works out fine..) !

I think we only find out now, as they had to release a newsletter when people here were talking about contacting Universal.

Chinese production, probably not ready yet? But the ara claim will also stop that.

Ara developed part of the tbl hardware, right ?
So they own the ip on that. Either they own it forever, or until dp pays all bills. Which they haven't.

So when a container from China should arrive, ara can try to stop it and claim they are counterfeit goods as they have ip rights on part of it.

Even if Ara if wrong, and xytech has recreated all the boards, it's another lawsuit, investigation, .. which may keep the chinese games stuck in customs for a long time.
Production can only start when ara is totally out of the picture. Starting manufacturing in China now will only give ara another tool to put pressure and cost dp more money.

Disclaimer: i am not a lawyer so everything is speculation

Also my opinion. This isn't hard proof that the email from ara is a lie (maybe not clear enough). But the email from DP talks about losses they can only recuperate by selling 350 machines (300 TBL and 50 BoP25) ??

Although it's not an ideal situation, if Ara knew so well the financial situation and had agreed, it could still have continued.. ara would've built the 350 games and the profit for DP would only have happened when all were sold, and Ara was able to keep their factory running.

Good luck with that.

According to the document rarehero posted (about 15 pages back), the company Dutch Pinball BV is owned by another company (Driessen Nauta Holding B.V.).
Dutch Pinball only has a capital of 100 euro. Yes, 100 euro. DP is an empty box.

I have no idea what the situation is of Driessen Nauta Holding BV. Maybe it is also an almost empty company.
It adds a layer of protection so getting to any of the owners / investors / .. own properties like their houses is going to be difficult.

Sorry, my mistake, found the original post, it was by highdef.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-big-lebowski-preorder-club/page/145#post-4406099