Announced almost a week ago, the final chapter of Games Workshop vs. Chapterhouse Studios has came to an end. Taking almost four years and millions of dollars in legal fees, the battle raged not only in the court room, but in chat rooms, forums, and gaming tables across the world. In the beginning, it seemed most people didn't know what side to take, but as GW increasingly bully behavior became apparent public opinion began to turn. The truth was CHS had blatantly stolen ideas from GW, but the the court room it didn't matter. The burden was on GW to prove it, and in most cases they didn't.
For the wargaming public though, the story became about whether third parties can make and sell add-on parts to go with GW models, or create models for things GW only drew. Their were also minor issues, like using the names of GW properties to clearly denote what parts when to what things, but we will get to that later. The clear removal of units with rules, but no models and quick release of 7th edition seemed like clear indicators the Chapterhouse case already has had a profound effect.
The question remains what is legal and what will GW do the next time a CHS type company appears? The somewhat bizarre ending to the case tells us a few things.
It started last year when the jury trial found GW losing out on about 75% of their what they asked for, but what they did get was a judgement for 25k in damages. At this point appeals were filed with Chapterhouse securing another round of pro-bono counsel; grabbing the best IP firm in the country. Seeing judicial precedents on the horizon, Chapterhouse's lawyers saw an easy target from GW legal amateur hour.
So, as the appeals process dragged on, no one had a clue it was CHS playing the delay game. It wasn't until about a month ago GW made the smart tactical decision to force some sort of resolution, by getting Chapterhouse assets temporary frozen, until he paid the 25k in damages. This caused Chapterhouse to freak out, as this wasn't clearly going to be paid by the lawyers. Quickly, Chapterhouse went to appeal the freeze and as of November 17th a judge was set to make decision, but miraculously at the 11th hour CHS and GW settled.
As the news broke, speculation ran rampant as to who flinched and what exactly happened. Truth be told we won't ever know everything, as secretive as GW is, undoubtedly a trillion NDAs are in the settlement. What we do know, though is Chapterhouse's website will be up and running by the end of the month. What products we see will tell us a lot. The very fact CHS still has a website and to sell products means something: GW attempt to bankrupt CHS failed.
After fighting tooth and nail for four years to crush CHS, GW ended up with a PR nightmare, a legal department in ruin, and a their famous IP moat drained. The deeper inside baseball story is how much influence did the incoming CEO have with the decision to settle? It might have been obvious the asset freeze was going to be thrown out and if GW didn't settle; the appeals process could threaten the company's intellectually property profoundly. It was also clear the current CEO Tom Kirby was souring on the whole fight, and what better way to give the new CEO Kevin Rountree a fresh start then to take out the old garbage.
Personally, I want to hope it was Kevin Rountree who instigated the settlement, because it would mean hope the new regime is smarter than the last. If nothing else, from the outside looking in it has been entertaining and informative journey for everyone. I doubt we will see another case like it in our little niche ever again. We can expect a little drip here and there over the next few years as lips loosen, but in the meantime I cannot wait to see what CHS will be selling because it will tell us exactly what victory looks like.
Lastly, if you want to relive this entire legal saga here are the links you need to know.
https://bloodofkittens.com/blog/2013/10/09/network-news-gw-fired/
https://bloodofkittens.com/blog/2013/10/22/network-news-games-workshop-and/
and finally the entire drama in one spot the legendary Dakkadakka thread!
Warning
Meat for Meta is rated editorial nonsense. These articles are meant to complain about some group, somewhere, that is playing the game for all the wrong reasons or simply to just make fun of 40k nerd rage.