Yesterday we reported that SNK had retracted its license and demanded an end to the manufacturing and sale of the Neo Geo X, a portable version of the iconic '90s console. We rather thought that'd be the end of the matter, as the IP holder had issued a rather blunt demand — lesson learned, never underestimate the power of contracts and lawyers sharpening pencils. Basically, Tommo has rejected the termination demand — men and women with briefcases are no doubt preparing for battle.
As a reminder, SNK issued the following statement to half production and sale of the Neo Geo X and related products.
In order to protect our intellectual property rights such as 'NEOGEO' and 'SNK', decisive measures will be taken against all unapproved NEOGEO X products not subject to the License Agreement.
Tommo, for its part, has fought back and stated that its license runs until 2016.
Tommo has performed all of its obligations under its license agreement with SNK and is disappointed by SNK's sudden and unjustified termination of the agreement.
Tommo has demanded that SNK retract its press release and any attempts to terminate the license agreement.
We're continuing to sell Neo Geo X products, including the Neo Geo X Gold System, Arcade Stick, Mega Pack Volume 1 and Classics Volumes 1-5. The license agreement which allows Tommo to sell and market these products remains in effect.
Blaze, the distributor of these products in Europe, has unsurprisingly supported Tommo's stance, issuing the following statement to Eurogamer:
Blaze will continue to market and sell all the Neo Geo X Product range and fully support all end users, retailers and distributors in the territories we are responsible for
Let battle commence.
[source eurogamer.net]
Comments 18
Is this just a way to boost sales? Encouraging people to buy now and have a rare'ish collectors item before it's discontinued. Which it won't be...
I thought this console looked awesome! Then I saw the price...
I would buy one, if I didn't own a lot of them already on Wii VC.
The console looks pretty damn crappy. I wouldn't but it. Looks like it'd break after a couple of uses. Such a shame.
Five dollars says that just before SNK are awarded a big money settlement, Tommo's board award themselves big bonuses and then have their company go bankrupt. I wouldn't be surprised if they have already awarded themselves big payrises.
I doubt if a unit fails Tommo would honour the warranty.
Tommo deserve more than a termination demand, they should get 3-5 years for that abomination..
@motang Problem I have with the Wii VC is it works on normal difficulty quite well but when you use MVS difficulty. (Which I consider to be normal it lags).
Wild Lawyer appeared! What will the trainer do?
>Fight
Use Item
Check legal options
Run Away
@MadAdam81 When the board of a company pillages the company's pocketbook before filing bankruptcy, the members of the board will likely be sued by the bankruptcy trustee to bring the money taken back into the bankruptcy estate.
Perhaps Tommo wouldn't be in this mess if they had just made something of actual quality. The trash they put out deserves to be discontinued.
Nothing a quick round of KotF can't fix...
$50 would of been a fair price for this, anything more than that was pure greed.
@unrandomsam Oh I didn't know that, thanks for the info.
@Falco That really depends if there is a termination clause in the contract. However, the article doesn't appear to mention this and neither party appears to have made a claim that such a clause exists.
If there is such a clause, Tommo really can't do anything about it. Then again, if such a clause does not exist, SNK could be in a lot of trouble for all of the negative publicity they generated.
Well Tommo either is ignorant, have brass balls, or they know the contract they drafted with SNK very well since it was their baby SNK graced an OK to. If they have a rock solid contract and have not violated one clear term of it they'd have a good case if SNK is just being complainy or wants to try and pull some gray area garbage over the suspect quality of the system.
If Tommo is right and they're licensed through 2016 and they feel a judge would agree so they could nail SNK to the wall with court costs and the rest. The sad thing is even if they did win, unless the contract clearly specifies terms over the years of what games will get released and when, I'd imagine SNK could act like kids and give them nothing more to release snuffing out the device which could then violate the terms.
Watch the profanity please — TBD
Probably SNK is just pissed that all this is is an emulator in a box... In fact, I'm surprised this isn't a cease and desist from the makers of Final Burn Alpha.
Not to mention if you crack open this box, you'll find many other emulators for PSX, GBA, SNES, just to name a few.
Since when Ken is pretending to be Ryu and Sagat gained weight and became a boxer?
Dayum.. This better not be a sale booster indeed, but that's lame to terminate an agreement at the blink of an eye.
Better call SAUL or PHOENIX ~
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