Author Topic: Former Factor 5 Employees Sue Company for Fraud (Read 11845 times)

Flames_of_chaos · « **on:** June 17, 2009, 06:39:36 AM »

Former employees of the recently closed company sue for intellectual property fraud and unpaid wages.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=18893

Last month, the German branch of Factor 5 confirmed that San Rafeal, CA branch of Factor 5 closed down. In a recent report in the Marin Independent Journal, it was revealed that when Factor 5 filed to liquidate the company's assets under Chapter 7 bankruptcy on May 13, the company had an estimated $1 to $10 million in debts. The biggest creditor was LucasArts Entertainment Co. Factor 5 owes LucasArts more than $4 million from a loan that was created in 2003.

The bankruptcy filing also had 69 claims for unpaid wages valued at more than $900,000. According to the lawsuit, Factor 5 stopped paying workers on November 1, 2008 and laid off all employees with little or no notice on December 19.

James Smith, a lawyer that represents the former Factor 5 employees, claims that Factor 5's three founders has deceitfully transferred assets, source codes, and intellectual properties to a company called Blue Harvest, which quickly changed their name to White Harvest. The lawyer believes that White Harvest and Factor 5 Inc. are basically the same company run by the same management except under a new name and address.

One game that Factor 5 gave to White Harvest was a new Star Wars: Rogue Squadron for the Wii. Ironically, the game's code name was Blue Harvest. Smith believes that the deceitful asset transfers were made to protect them.

NinGurl69 *huggles · « **Reply #1 on:** June 17, 2009, 01:53:50 PM »

DRAMA

King of Twitch · « **Reply #2 on:** June 17, 2009, 02:04:34 PM »

High Drama

NinGurl69 *huggles · « **Reply #3 on:** June 17, 2009, 02:24:43 PM »

This cycle is reaching a new level of financial sophistication.

Unprecedented.

Stratos · « **Reply #4 on:** June 17, 2009, 02:43:56 PM »

Not very suprised, honestly. It seemed like too much of a clean escape on the company's part.

Enner · « **Reply #5 on:** June 17, 2009, 03:34:11 PM »

Rogue Squadron Wii. Pretty bad way for a new game to surface.

DAaaMan64 · « **Reply #6 on:** June 17, 2009, 03:36:08 PM »

oooh yum

ShyGuy · « **Reply #7 on:** June 17, 2009, 03:52:56 PM »

Rogue Squadron is the Western Dynasty Warriors. MILK IT.

Stratos · « **Reply #8 on:** June 17, 2009, 04:05:40 PM »

Quote from: Enner on June 17, 2009, 03:34:11 PM

Rogue Squadron Wii. Pretty bad way for a new game to surface.

How do we know that this isn't just the Wii version of RS3 that we know they threw together as a test run on the Wii system?

Rogue Squadron Wii could be anything. It could be that, it could be a tech demo for #4, it could be an actual running version of #4, or it could be a Metroid Prime Trilogy-esque NPC/Wiimake of the first 3 Squadron games.

AV · « **Reply #9 on:** June 17, 2009, 04:18:42 PM »

It's all IGN's fault. Kid Icarus and all

BlackNMild2k1 · « **Reply #10 on:** June 17, 2009, 05:02:39 PM »

Another Rumor Confirmed!!! Rogue Squadron Wii & White Harvest do exist!

Stele · « **Reply #11 on:** June 17, 2009, 05:19:33 PM »

Quote from: Stratos on June 17, 2009, 04:05:40 PM

Rogue Squadron Wii could be anything. It could be that, it could be a tech demo for #4, it could be an actual running version of #4, or it could be a Metroid Prime Trilogy-esque NPC/Wiimake of the first 3 Squadron games.

I'd play any of those.

Stratos · « **Reply #12 on:** June 17, 2009, 05:24:25 PM »

Quote from: Stele on June 17, 2009, 05:19:33 PM

Quote from: Stratos on June 17, 2009, 04:05:40 PM

Rogue Squadron Wii could be anything. It could be that, it could be a tech demo for #4, it could be an actual running version of #4, or it could be a Metroid Prime Trilogy-esque NPC/Wiimake of the first 3 Squadron games.

I'd play any of those.

same here, but I don't want to assume it's one I'd rather have and be disappointed when it is not that.

Djunknown · « **Reply #13 on:** June 18, 2009, 12:28:56 AM »

The evidence sounds confusing. So:

Blue Harvest=Game?

White Harvest=Company?

But company's original name was Blue Harvest?

BlackNMild2k1 · « **Reply #14 on:** June 18, 2009, 12:40:45 AM »

What it sounds like to me:

Project Blue Harvest = the transference of a game(and all company assets) to a company that would share the project name.
Once transfer was complete, the game took the name Blue Harvest, and the company switched its name to White Harvest to hide company involvement(?).

thats pretty crazy. Too bad they didn't hire all the old employees back, or forbid retained employees from conversating with past employees, to avoid this lawsuit.

Stratos · « **Reply #15 on:** June 18, 2009, 01:08:33 AM »

I just hope it doesn't kill the games and this evanescent ghost of Factor 5 for good.

ShyGuy · « **Reply #16 on:** June 18, 2009, 11:44:28 AM »

I think project Red Harvest is going to be their plans for extermination.

The business I work for has been screwed twice by companies doing this. They shut down and reopen under a new name therefore screwing their creditors. It wasn't worth the hassle of suing them to get them to pay their bills.

Flames_of_chaos · « **Reply #17 on:** June 18, 2009, 02:34:09 PM »

Yup, Blue Harvest has also another big interesting relevance (and no it's not linked to the Family Guy Blue Harvest Special), in the 1980's George Lucas used the name Blue Harvest to hide the production of Star Wars IV: Return of the Jedi from everybody.

DJ, you are correct, the game's code name was Blue Harvest(Star Wars: Rogue Squadron for Wii). The company that Factor 5's assets were transferred to a company called Blue Harvest, Blue Harvest quickly changed their name to White Harvest.

NWR_Lindy · « **Reply #18 on:** June 18, 2009, 07:36:36 PM »

I think what would solve the problem here would be a sequel to Body Harvest.

Stratos · « **Reply #19 on:** June 18, 2009, 08:59:18 PM »

Quote from: Lindy on June 18, 2009, 07:36:36 PM

I think what would solve the problem here would be a sequel to Body Harvest.

I thought Rockstar made Body Harvest. This was before they changed their name to Rockstar.

I never played it but I'd like to.

that Baby guy · « **Reply #20 on:** June 18, 2009, 09:32:21 PM »

Rockstar made Space Station Silicon Valley before they were Rockstar. Could've been other games, too, but that's the one I recall.

TJ Spyke · « **Reply #21 on:** June 18, 2009, 10:51:47 PM »

It's not quite that simple. What is currently known as Rockstar Games used to be different design studios. "Rockstar Games" the label was created in 1998. The most famous studio in the Rockstar label is Rockstar North (developers of the console GTA games), originally known as DMA Design. Their only games for Nintendo systems were "Space Station Silicon Valley" (N64), "Body Harvest" (N64), "Uniracers" (N64), ''Grand Theft Auto" (GBC), "Lemmings 2: The Tribes" (SNES) and most recently "Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars" for DS.

I suppose Body Harvest, Uniracers and Space Station Silicon Valley could get added to the Virtual Console. Lemmings 2: The Tribes won't though since Sony owns the IP.

Stratos · « **Reply #22 on:** June 18, 2009, 10:56:14 PM »

Uniracers was an SNES game. I think it was rated but never released on VC. Might have had some legal issues as well.

TJ Spyke · « **Reply #23 on:** June 18, 2009, 11:11:39 PM »

I meant to type SNES, don't know why I wrote N64.

I don't think it was ever rated for the Virtual Console, it was rated under the vague "Nintendo" category (whereas Virtual Console games are rated under the "Wii" category). There might be legal issues. Nintendo published the game and also co-developed it, by Take-Two might own parts of the game (the same way Square Enix owns parts of Super Mario RPG).

Stratos · « **Reply #24 on:** June 18, 2009, 11:26:06 PM »

Quote

There are legal reasons behind the Uniracers franchise being dumped. The game’s a cult hit, a follow-up was a no-brainer. However, you can blame Pixar for what happened to Uniracers. You see, back in the early days, before Disney picked them up, Pixar did short CG animations. Their first to receive any acclaim whatsoever starred a red unicycle, and the stars of Uniracers bore an uncanny resemblance to Pixar’s creation, so production and sale of Uniracers was halted.

This is from a comment I read on another site. It lines up with what I've read elsewhere and seems to sum it up nicely.

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Author Topic: Former Factor 5 Employees Sue Company for Fraud (Read 11845 times)