Confidential — MARS Update

So, as some of you are aware, back at the end of May, I was contacted by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., who apparently had problems with the “similarities” between elements of Adamant’s forthcoming planetary-romance RPG, MARS, and the Mars novels written by Burroughs in the early part of the last century.

I decided, at the time, to give them an opportunity to tell me their concerns, figuring if I could address them directly then we might be able to circumvent a groundless lawsuit. I heard nothing more from them until June 22 — a single cryptic line, asking for my physical address so that they “could correspond with Adamant Entertainment thereat.” I responded immediately, providing my mailing address.

I haven’t heard a word since.

Moreover, I started to get suspicious — the individual who contacted me initially claimed the title of “General Counsel” — but on the second email, the title was “President.” On top of this, the email address used to contact me was a yahoo.com address, rather than any one of the dedicated domains owned by ERB, Inc. It has occurred to me that this may be nothing more than an effort by an enemy (whether Porter or someone else with a grudge), to fuck with me for their own amusement.

Even if it is genuine, though, I am more convinced of the fact that if any suit IS brought, I can easily have it tossed by demonstrating Prior Art.

So, I sent the following email yesterday:


“I have been waiting nearly two months since sending my address to you following the receipt of your below-quoted email, yet there has been no correspondance from Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.

Adamant Entertainment has delayed the release of our product, which is based upon our own intellectual property, and the traditions of the Planetary Romance genre….of which Burroughs was a part, but not the creator….and most certainly not the owner. The delay in release was due to our willingness to address any specific concerns that Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. had with the preview material. Having now delayed nearly a full Quarter from the receipt of your initial contact of May 30th, our goodwill has been amply demonstrated, and yet no further communication has been forthcoming from your office.

Further, having examined our electronic shipment records, I also find it somewhat concerning that we are unable to confirm shipment to you of a registered copy of our Preview, which you claim to have reviewed. As you are well aware, unauthorized copying (or receiving unauthorized copies) of electronic product is actionable, as recent lawsuits by the RIAA and MPAA have demonstrated. I would appreciate if you could provide us with more detailed information regarding how you received the copy you reviewed. If Adamant Entertainment, or one of our vendors, have a security problem, we would be very interested in tracking it down.

Thank you for your cooperation,

Gareth-Michael Skarka
Adamant Entertainment”

So stay tuned, folks — I’ve decided to play Chicken with this motherfucker. I’m expecting that they’ll blink.

5 Replies to “Confidential — MARS Update”

  1. The yahoo email address is a dead giveaway. It would be certainly interesting to find out who actually owns that particular yahoo address…

    Good luck.

    D.

  2. I smell a rat

    I hadn’t even considered someone spoofing you on this, and that’s abotu the lowest thing I’ve heard in a long time.

    I was looking around for the official ERB Estate website and found these links:
    ERB Links and the website of his grandson, Tarzan.com.

    Bill Hillman, who maintains the ERB website, would probably know the official e-mail address for ERB correspondences, if he isn’t it.

  3. Nice one. Good luck with it. You know what I think of this kind of bullshit (whether its source is ERB or a spoofer). Life’s too short to worry about it. Let them throw a lawsuit at Adamant, if they’re stupid enough to think that will be worth their while. :)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.