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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

WOW!! Lucasfilm sues Gen Con for breach of contract!

Discussion in 'Star Wars Celebrations' started by Grand Admiral Strife, Feb 15, 2008.

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  1. ValedaKor

    ValedaKor Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 25, 2000
    They'll settle. It's cheaper.
     
  2. Amidala081499

    Amidala081499 Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Sep 13, 2003
    I second that...I am sure a settlement is in the future. It will be up to the Make a Wish foundation if they want to persue federal charges.

    Let just hope that the charity gets their money!!!
     
  3. Grand Admiral Strife

    Grand Admiral Strife RSA Emeritus star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 21, 2001
    If they were going to settle GenCon wouldn't have filed bankruptcy.
     
  4. ValedaKor

    ValedaKor Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 25, 2000
    But will they want to spend the money to fight it? Some sort of settlement is definitely in order, rather than an actual court case, wouldn't you say?
     
  5. Uilmuteiz

    Uilmuteiz RSA Emeritus star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 4, 2000
    I'm going to try and stay neutral in all this, but I just cannot believe my eyes.

    This is flabbergasting.

    To comment on the Make-A-Wish thing, I can't double check it, but from the legal blabber I read in the complaint it doesn't imply that the charity never got any money, it just says that Gencon never paid either LFL or Make-A-Wish in LFL name, which means they might have donated the money under their name.

    From what I can make out of it this seems to be mostly an issue that arose with misfiled paperwork and late payment.

    I was really happy that LFL chose GenCon to help them again after C3 because (as an event organizer myself) I could see the huge difference between C2 and C3. And I for one always believed that gencon should have been back for C4.

    It's just a question of logic that if you switch event management around time after time, nobody will ever get it right.

    Now Official Pix I think might have the brains to pull something of the magnitude of C5, but sadly not the resources (And they did an awesome job on both breakfasts don't get me wrong here)

    Anyways, I'm confident in Mary and Steve and I know (that with some help) they could definitely make a C5 happen.

    I guess we'll just have to stay tuned.

    Edit: just checked the Make-A-Wish website and neither LFL, George, Gencon or Peter Adkinson names appear anywhere. so no payment might have been made.. o_O
     
  6. JediJustin

    JediJustin Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 17, 2006
    Latest update on TF.N says now GenCon is filing a countersuit against LFL for $80,000 plus other fees.

    To quote Leia: "It ain't over yet".

    This is turning out be messier than originally thought... [face_worried]

    - Justin
     
  7. ValedaKor

    ValedaKor Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 25, 2000
    Suit and counter-suit. That's normal. The truth is somewhere in the middle.
     
  8. joesdomain

    joesdomain Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Feb 14, 2006
    I have been away from these boards for awhile. I have been checking theforce.net, starwars.com and gencon.com often. I saw the press announcement on gencon.com. I thought on great! A fan and supporter of Gencon Indy and now they go into chapter 11 and a possible suit from Lucasfilm. I find it hard to believe that a company would not donate the money to a make a wish foundation. Something sounds fishy with the claims. Since none of us have the full facts we don't know who is telling the true. I doubt Lucasfilm will be getting any money if the court rules chapter 11 in favor of gencon. Usually bankrupcty means they freeze their money during that time period. Can't we all just get along!! I don't think it will hurt chances of more Star Wars Celebrations. Hopefully they continue preparing for a Star Wars Celebration!
     
  9. Grumpy_Jedi

    Grumpy_Jedi Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 2, 2006
    I think the whole thing is sad... sad sad sad and a lot of pathetic thrown in there for good measure. I believe Lucas would sue his own mother if she as muched as spelled Ewok in her Cheerios without giving LFL trademark credit. Blah!!!!
     
  10. pwinklespi

    pwinklespi Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Mar 30, 2004
    Nice. This company is pathetic. A billion dollars in the bank and they are worried about $80,000. Oh well.
     
  11. Lufta Shif

    Lufta Shif Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    May 31, 2000
    This situation makes me sad. I agree that C4 was very well run and I was hoping GenCon was scheduled for future Celebrations. They seemed to try to learn from the past and constantly improve things. Sigh...:(
     
  12. pwinklespi

    pwinklespi Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Mar 30, 2004
    I have to agree that the whole con was run very well. Lines weren't that long. The store was great and it was fun. Unless CV was really close to me, I probably wouldn't go though. CIII was a celebration. We were anticipating the final Star Wars movie. CIV was good, but I don't think there is anything else to celebrate.

    NOW, let's have a Star Wars and Star Trek convention together. THAT would be fun. I wonder how many fights there would be? HAHA!
     
  13. -_-_-_-_-_-

    -_-_-_-_-_- Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Apr 28, 2002
    Justice for C3.
     
  14. JediJustin

    JediJustin Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 17, 2006
    Ummm, just curious: What's the deal behind your screen name? [face_thinking]

    - Justin
     
  15. ValedaKor

    ValedaKor Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 25, 2000
    It's Morse code.
     
  16. JediJustin

    JediJustin Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 17, 2006
    Ahhhh, gotcha. I was thinking more like Aurebesh for the blind. ;)

    - Justin
     
  17. Moff_D

    Moff_D Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Aug 3, 2002
    I think the bottom line is that all of this confirms that the attendance at C4 was a disappointment to all involved. More people=more profit, and clearly C4 didn't make a profit. IF we get a C5, it will likely be reduced in scale compared to C4 and more like the first 3 Celebrations (yay for wall-to-wall people! :p )
     
  18. ValedaKor

    ValedaKor Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 25, 2000
    Which is why you have bail-out clauses in your contracts. That's from Meeting Planning 101. If GenCon didn't have that, well....
     
  19. Moff_D

    Moff_D Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Aug 3, 2002
    Well....having volunteered for them a few times I can't say they inspired confidence in their overall organizing abilities... ;)
     
  20. Grand Admiral Strife

    Grand Admiral Strife RSA Emeritus star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 21, 2001
    But they told LFL they made $4 million net.

    And what about the money raised for Make-A-Wish? How you raise $150,000 as the announced total, then have the money disappear, that's what troubles me more than anything else. And if GenCon claims it lost money on CIV, then what about CIII? They had to have lost money on that too, yet their finances were good enough to want to sign a multiyear contract with LFL
     
  21. ValedaKor

    ValedaKor Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 25, 2000
    Right now it's all at the "he said she said" stage, so the truth, as I've noted, is somewhere in between.
     
  22. Lufta Shif

    Lufta Shif Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    May 31, 2000
    Yes, this is the most disturbing part of the news. This makes me very angry that the foundation has not received any funds yet. :(
     
  23. Moff_D

    Moff_D Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Aug 3, 2002
    If it indeed happened as the court case spells out (and if the bankruptcy protection is any indication), then GenCon was in some financial trouble and decided to keep the charity money (because they were somehow entitled to to make up for their shortfall according to them). LFL, waiting for GenCon to fulfil their obligations apparently decided to keep their payment for the booth at C4. Undoubtedly much has gone on behind the scenes that we won't know about. I suspect that from a LFL perspective the lawsuit has little to do with money but is rather an attempt to keep a good name when it comes to charitable donations and the like. There are many creative ways to "cook the books", so if C4 actually made $4 million than this problem wouldn't exist. It seems to come down to one of these options: GenCon was/is lying; GenCon is greedy; GenCon has been grossly mismanaged from a financial point of view.
     
  24. star-killer1

    star-killer1 Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Jun 7, 2005
    I thought it was a play on the character name Dash Rendar
     
  25. ValedaKor

    ValedaKor Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 25, 2000
    From just the way they seemed to organize everything they've done for the Celebrations the company was involved in, I would subscribe to pretty much all three of these points of view. Especially the mismanaged one.
     
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