Re: Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit
Hi, even though there may potentially be some results out of a lawsuit, such measures can hardly be seen as all that much less reprehensible as forcing people into decisions in the first place. Forcing back (or threats thereof?) in response to forcing? Despite anything positive that could come out of that, it would very most-likely entail or pronounce future debacles/behavior of the sorts, and consequently similar counter-measures.. not unlike a cycle. And I think the fact that we are appealing to people (that can understand, reason be reasoned-with) can be leveraged-upon for a far less brute resolve to which everyone could live with. People have been very respectful (for the larger part) in most of the responses so far (many responses) so lets not ruin that momentum shall we? On 03/16/14 21:02, Doeke Wartena wrote: I think it will be very expensive but i would be happy to donate some. 2014-03-16 20:16 GMT+01:00 Tenshi Sama tenshu...@gmail.com mailto:tenshu...@gmail.com: I'm not a lawyer, but i think with Autodesk history there's maybe a case here. The only way i think this could be accomplished is with all the community support; from studios to freelancers; important people; then, gather all the info from past years, videos, open letters, discussions, petitions, AD statements about Softimage future. I mean, everything!. And maybe we could have a case here.(maybe a weak one, but still a case) The problem i see with this is that people is not going to support something like this, because it requires investment and time. Human beings think first about their priorities, families and life itself(which is fine). But, if only we could give support to something like this, this kind of monopoly cases, will be over for decades, because company's will know for sure that Users will fight for their rights. Don't misunderstand me, i hate the way Autode$k manage things, i would love to see the law force them to give the users what they promess year after year. What I do not like to see is how people bow to Autodesk and let them decide the path that everyone must follow. So... ,first we need a good representative, then a good lawyer, community support, and money. (sorry for my english) On Sun, Mar 16, 2014 at 12:49 PM, Chris Vienneau chris.vienn...@autodesk.com mailto:chris.vienn...@autodesk.com wrote: Hi everyone, Things are very different than six years ago. In terms of competition for Autodesk, you can now argue in different industries there is Cinema 4D, Modo, Houdini, Zbrush, 3D coat, and even Unity (now has modeling tools) that can replace functionality that was once only available in 3dsmax, Maya, and Softimage. Things are more and more about playing nice with other tools in an ecosystem than one package to rule them all. cv/ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Ben Barker [ben.bar...@gmail.com mailto:ben.bar...@gmail.com] Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2014 12:38 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com mailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit I'm not a lawyer either, but a few thoughts. When AD first bought Softimage there were talks of monopoly. Unfortunately for us, AD's biggest market is CAD, and they have several competitors in that arena. The government doesn't really parcel out the market in a way that favors a claim on monopoly for 3D artists. We are just a small bulb on a large tree. Secondly, and this is a more serious problem, antitrust basically doesn't exist anymore in the US like it did in the days of Ma Bell. I talked with my partner, who is a larval lawyer, about this issue quite a bit. Every antitrust decision for the past 70 years has gnawed away at plaintiff power in antitrust cases and now there is essentially nothing left. Combined with the weak case we would already have from the first part, and I think this would be a really difficult row to hoe. That money and energy would probably be better spent re-educating and resource sharing among SI artists so they can move on, or perhaps fighting the subsidy/tariff issue. I understand the anger, and it's heartbreaking to watch a superior product die in favor of Maya, but this wouldn't be a good way to retaliate IMO. On Sun, Mar 16, 2014 at 12:06 PM, skuby sku...@gmail.com mailto:sku...@gmail.commailto:sku...@gmail.com mailto:sku...@gmail.com
Re: Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit
Shouldn't we setup an alternate mailing list in order not to give any heads up to AD about this ? On Mon, Mar 17, 2014 at 12:26 PM, Jason S jasonsta...@gmail.com wrote: Hi, even though there may potentially be some results out of a lawsuit, such measures can hardly be seen as all that much less reprehensible as forcing people into decisions in the first place. Forcing back (or threats thereof?) in response to forcing? Despite anything positive that could come out of that, it would very most-likely entail or pronounce future debacles/behavior of the sorts, and consequently similar counter-measures.. not unlike a cycle. And I think the fact that we are appealing to people (that can understand, reason be reasoned-with) can be leveraged-upon for a far less brute resolve to which everyone could live with. People have been very respectful (for the larger part) in most of the responses so far (many responses) so lets not ruin that momentum shall we? On 03/16/14 21:02, Doeke Wartena wrote: I think it will be very expensive but i would be happy to donate some. 2014-03-16 20:16 GMT+01:00 Tenshi Sama tenshu...@gmail.com: I'm not a lawyer, but i think with Autodesk history there's maybe a case here. The only way i think this could be accomplished is with all the community support; from studios to freelancers; important people; then, gather all the info from past years, videos, open letters, discussions, petitions, AD statements about Softimage future. I mean, everything!. And maybe we could have a case here.(maybe a weak one, but still a case) The problem i see with this is that people is not going to support something like this, because it requires investment and time. Human beings think first about their priorities, families and life itself(which is fine). But, if only we could give support to something like this, this kind of monopoly cases, will be over for decades, because company's will know for sure that Users will fight for their rights. Don't misunderstand me, i hate the way Autode$k manage things, i would love to see the law force them to give the users what they promess year after year. What I do not like to see is how people bow to Autodesk and let them decide the path that everyone must follow. So... ,first we need a good representative, then a good lawyer, community support, and money. (sorry for my english) On Sun, Mar 16, 2014 at 12:49 PM, Chris Vienneau chris.vienn...@autodesk.com wrote: Hi everyone, Things are very different than six years ago. In terms of competition for Autodesk, you can now argue in different industries there is Cinema 4D, Modo, Houdini, Zbrush, 3D coat, and even Unity (now has modeling tools) that can replace functionality that was once only available in 3dsmax, Maya, and Softimage. Things are more and more about playing nice with other tools in an ecosystem than one package to rule them all. cv/ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [ softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Ben Barker [ ben.bar...@gmail.com] Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2014 12:38 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit I'm not a lawyer either, but a few thoughts. When AD first bought Softimage there were talks of monopoly. Unfortunately for us, AD's biggest market is CAD, and they have several competitors in that arena. The government doesn't really parcel out the market in a way that favors a claim on monopoly for 3D artists. We are just a small bulb on a large tree. Secondly, and this is a more serious problem, antitrust basically doesn't exist anymore in the US like it did in the days of Ma Bell. I talked with my partner, who is a larval lawyer, about this issue quite a bit. Every antitrust decision for the past 70 years has gnawed away at plaintiff power in antitrust cases and now there is essentially nothing left. Combined with the weak case we would already have from the first part, and I think this would be a really difficult row to hoe. That money and energy would probably be better spent re-educating and resource sharing among SI artists so they can move on, or perhaps fighting the subsidy/tariff issue. I understand the anger, and it's heartbreaking to watch a superior product die in favor of Maya, but this wouldn't be a good way to retaliate IMO. On Sun, Mar 16, 2014 at 12:06 PM, skuby sku...@gmail.commailto: sku...@gmail.com wrote: There may be a case here for an Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit against Autodesk. We would need to have a lawyer look at the details and I'm not the person to be able to do this, as I don't have the resources, connections or credibility to do so. However, if successful, it is potentially possible that Autodesk could be forced to divest their Softimage assets, aka. they could be compelled by a court to sell Softimage to a competitor at it's fair market
Re: Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit
I'm not a lawyer either, but a few thoughts. When AD first bought Softimage there were talks of monopoly. Unfortunately for us, AD's biggest market is CAD, and they have several competitors in that arena. The government doesn't really parcel out the market in a way that favors a claim on monopoly for 3D artists. We are just a small bulb on a large tree. Secondly, and this is a more serious problem, antitrust basically doesn't exist anymore in the US like it did in the days of Ma Bell. I talked with my partner, who is a larval lawyer, about this issue quite a bit. Every antitrust decision for the past 70 years has gnawed away at plaintiff power in antitrust cases and now there is essentially nothing left. Combined with the weak case we would already have from the first part, and I think this would be a really difficult row to hoe. That money and energy would probably be better spent re-educating and resource sharing among SI artists so they can move on, or perhaps fighting the subsidy/tariff issue. I understand the anger, and it's heartbreaking to watch a superior product die in favor of Maya, but this wouldn't be a good way to retaliate IMO. On Sun, Mar 16, 2014 at 12:06 PM, skuby sku...@gmail.com wrote: There may be a case here for an Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit against Autodesk. We would need to have a lawyer look at the details and I'm not the person to be able to do this, as I don't have the resources, connections or credibility to do so. However, if successful, it is potentially possible that Autodesk could be forced to divest their Softimage assets, aka. they could be compelled by a court to sell Softimage to a competitor at it's fair market value. Anyways, maybe someone out there in the aether can give the idea a shot, I would not know where to start outside of this initial suggestion. The Federal Trade Commission along with the Department of Justice Antitrust Division jointly regulate and enforce Antitrust Law and Anti-Competitive Monopoly practices. Anyways, this might work a little better than a petition to Autodesk or other-such cries for a change of heart, but the petition someone put out there to Autodesk might serve some use when presenting the idea to a Lawyer(s). I think a lot of people and interested parties might just support crowdfunding for legal fees. Good luck.
RE: Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit
Hi everyone, Things are very different than six years ago. In terms of competition for Autodesk, you can now argue in different industries there is Cinema 4D, Modo, Houdini, Zbrush, 3D coat, and even Unity (now has modeling tools) that can replace functionality that was once only available in 3dsmax, Maya, and Softimage. Things are more and more about playing nice with other tools in an ecosystem than one package to rule them all. cv/ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Ben Barker [ben.bar...@gmail.com] Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2014 12:38 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit I'm not a lawyer either, but a few thoughts. When AD first bought Softimage there were talks of monopoly. Unfortunately for us, AD's biggest market is CAD, and they have several competitors in that arena. The government doesn't really parcel out the market in a way that favors a claim on monopoly for 3D artists. We are just a small bulb on a large tree. Secondly, and this is a more serious problem, antitrust basically doesn't exist anymore in the US like it did in the days of Ma Bell. I talked with my partner, who is a larval lawyer, about this issue quite a bit. Every antitrust decision for the past 70 years has gnawed away at plaintiff power in antitrust cases and now there is essentially nothing left. Combined with the weak case we would already have from the first part, and I think this would be a really difficult row to hoe. That money and energy would probably be better spent re-educating and resource sharing among SI artists so they can move on, or perhaps fighting the subsidy/tariff issue. I understand the anger, and it's heartbreaking to watch a superior product die in favor of Maya, but this wouldn't be a good way to retaliate IMO. On Sun, Mar 16, 2014 at 12:06 PM, skuby sku...@gmail.commailto:sku...@gmail.com wrote: There may be a case here for an Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit against Autodesk. We would need to have a lawyer look at the details and I'm not the person to be able to do this, as I don't have the resources, connections or credibility to do so. However, if successful, it is potentially possible that Autodesk could be forced to divest their Softimage assets, aka. they could be compelled by a court to sell Softimage to a competitor at it's fair market value. Anyways, maybe someone out there in the aether can give the idea a shot, I would not know where to start outside of this initial suggestion. The Federal Trade Commission along with the Department of Justice Antitrust Division jointly regulate and enforce Antitrust Law and Anti-Competitive Monopoly practices. Anyways, this might work a little better than a petition to Autodesk or other-such cries for a change of heart, but the petition someone put out there to Autodesk might serve some use when presenting the idea to a Lawyer(s). I think a lot of people and interested parties might just support crowdfunding for legal fees. Good luck. attachment: winmail.dat
Re: Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit
I'm not a lawyer, but i think with Autodesk history there's maybe a case here. The only way i think this could be accomplished is with all the community support; from studios to freelancers; important people; then, gather all the info from past years, videos, open letters, discussions, petitions, AD statements about Softimage future. I mean, everything!. And maybe we could have a case here.(maybe a weak one, but still a case) The problem i see with this is that people is not going to support something like this, because it requires investment and time. Human beings think first about their priorities, families and life itself(which is fine). But, if only we could give support to something like this, this kind of monopoly cases, will be over for decades, because company's will know for sure that Users will fight for their rights. Don't misunderstand me, i hate the way Autode$k manage things, i would love to see the law force them to give the users what they promess year after year. What I do not like to see is how people bow to Autodesk and let them decide the path that everyone must follow. So... ,first we need a good representative, then a good lawyer, community support, and money. (sorry for my english) On Sun, Mar 16, 2014 at 12:49 PM, Chris Vienneau chris.vienn...@autodesk.com wrote: Hi everyone, Things are very different than six years ago. In terms of competition for Autodesk, you can now argue in different industries there is Cinema 4D, Modo, Houdini, Zbrush, 3D coat, and even Unity (now has modeling tools) that can replace functionality that was once only available in 3dsmax, Maya, and Softimage. Things are more and more about playing nice with other tools in an ecosystem than one package to rule them all. cv/ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [ softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Ben Barker [ ben.bar...@gmail.com] Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2014 12:38 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit I'm not a lawyer either, but a few thoughts. When AD first bought Softimage there were talks of monopoly. Unfortunately for us, AD's biggest market is CAD, and they have several competitors in that arena. The government doesn't really parcel out the market in a way that favors a claim on monopoly for 3D artists. We are just a small bulb on a large tree. Secondly, and this is a more serious problem, antitrust basically doesn't exist anymore in the US like it did in the days of Ma Bell. I talked with my partner, who is a larval lawyer, about this issue quite a bit. Every antitrust decision for the past 70 years has gnawed away at plaintiff power in antitrust cases and now there is essentially nothing left. Combined with the weak case we would already have from the first part, and I think this would be a really difficult row to hoe. That money and energy would probably be better spent re-educating and resource sharing among SI artists so they can move on, or perhaps fighting the subsidy/tariff issue. I understand the anger, and it's heartbreaking to watch a superior product die in favor of Maya, but this wouldn't be a good way to retaliate IMO. On Sun, Mar 16, 2014 at 12:06 PM, skuby sku...@gmail.commailto: sku...@gmail.com wrote: There may be a case here for an Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit against Autodesk. We would need to have a lawyer look at the details and I'm not the person to be able to do this, as I don't have the resources, connections or credibility to do so. However, if successful, it is potentially possible that Autodesk could be forced to divest their Softimage assets, aka. they could be compelled by a court to sell Softimage to a competitor at it's fair market value. Anyways, maybe someone out there in the aether can give the idea a shot, I would not know where to start outside of this initial suggestion. The Federal Trade Commission along with the Department of Justice Antitrust Division jointly regulate and enforce Antitrust Law and Anti-Competitive Monopoly practices. Anyways, this might work a little better than a petition to Autodesk or other-such cries for a change of heart, but the petition someone put out there to Autodesk might serve some use when presenting the idea to a Lawyer(s). I think a lot of people and interested parties might just support crowdfunding for legal fees. Good luck.
Re: Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit
I think it will be very expensive but i would be happy to donate some. 2014-03-16 20:16 GMT+01:00 Tenshi Sama tenshu...@gmail.com: I'm not a lawyer, but i think with Autodesk history there's maybe a case here. The only way i think this could be accomplished is with all the community support; from studios to freelancers; important people; then, gather all the info from past years, videos, open letters, discussions, petitions, AD statements about Softimage future. I mean, everything!. And maybe we could have a case here.(maybe a weak one, but still a case) The problem i see with this is that people is not going to support something like this, because it requires investment and time. Human beings think first about their priorities, families and life itself(which is fine). But, if only we could give support to something like this, this kind of monopoly cases, will be over for decades, because company's will know for sure that Users will fight for their rights. Don't misunderstand me, i hate the way Autode$k manage things, i would love to see the law force them to give the users what they promess year after year. What I do not like to see is how people bow to Autodesk and let them decide the path that everyone must follow. So... ,first we need a good representative, then a good lawyer, community support, and money. (sorry for my english) On Sun, Mar 16, 2014 at 12:49 PM, Chris Vienneau chris.vienn...@autodesk.com wrote: Hi everyone, Things are very different than six years ago. In terms of competition for Autodesk, you can now argue in different industries there is Cinema 4D, Modo, Houdini, Zbrush, 3D coat, and even Unity (now has modeling tools) that can replace functionality that was once only available in 3dsmax, Maya, and Softimage. Things are more and more about playing nice with other tools in an ecosystem than one package to rule them all. cv/ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [ softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Ben Barker [ ben.bar...@gmail.com] Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2014 12:38 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit I'm not a lawyer either, but a few thoughts. When AD first bought Softimage there were talks of monopoly. Unfortunately for us, AD's biggest market is CAD, and they have several competitors in that arena. The government doesn't really parcel out the market in a way that favors a claim on monopoly for 3D artists. We are just a small bulb on a large tree. Secondly, and this is a more serious problem, antitrust basically doesn't exist anymore in the US like it did in the days of Ma Bell. I talked with my partner, who is a larval lawyer, about this issue quite a bit. Every antitrust decision for the past 70 years has gnawed away at plaintiff power in antitrust cases and now there is essentially nothing left. Combined with the weak case we would already have from the first part, and I think this would be a really difficult row to hoe. That money and energy would probably be better spent re-educating and resource sharing among SI artists so they can move on, or perhaps fighting the subsidy/tariff issue. I understand the anger, and it's heartbreaking to watch a superior product die in favor of Maya, but this wouldn't be a good way to retaliate IMO. On Sun, Mar 16, 2014 at 12:06 PM, skuby sku...@gmail.commailto: sku...@gmail.com wrote: There may be a case here for an Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit against Autodesk. We would need to have a lawyer look at the details and I'm not the person to be able to do this, as I don't have the resources, connections or credibility to do so. However, if successful, it is potentially possible that Autodesk could be forced to divest their Softimage assets, aka. they could be compelled by a court to sell Softimage to a competitor at it's fair market value. Anyways, maybe someone out there in the aether can give the idea a shot, I would not know where to start outside of this initial suggestion. The Federal Trade Commission along with the Department of Justice Antitrust Division jointly regulate and enforce Antitrust Law and Anti-Competitive Monopoly practices. Anyways, this might work a little better than a petition to Autodesk or other-such cries for a change of heart, but the petition someone put out there to Autodesk might serve some use when presenting the idea to a Lawyer(s). I think a lot of people and interested parties might just support crowdfunding for legal fees. Good luck.
Re: Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit
if only to shit in their coffee :P On 17 March 2014 01:02, Doeke Wartena clankil...@gmail.com wrote: I think it will be very expensive but i would be happy to donate some. 2014-03-16 20:16 GMT+01:00 Tenshi Sama tenshu...@gmail.com: I'm not a lawyer, but i think with Autodesk history there's maybe a case here. The only way i think this could be accomplished is with all the community support; from studios to freelancers; important people; then, gather all the info from past years, videos, open letters, discussions, petitions, AD statements about Softimage future. I mean, everything!. And maybe we could have a case here.(maybe a weak one, but still a case) The problem i see with this is that people is not going to support something like this, because it requires investment and time. Human beings think first about their priorities, families and life itself(which is fine). But, if only we could give support to something like this, this kind of monopoly cases, will be over for decades, because company's will know for sure that Users will fight for their rights. Don't misunderstand me, i hate the way Autode$k manage things, i would love to see the law force them to give the users what they promess year after year. What I do not like to see is how people bow to Autodesk and let them decide the path that everyone must follow. So... ,first we need a good representative, then a good lawyer, community support, and money. (sorry for my english) On Sun, Mar 16, 2014 at 12:49 PM, Chris Vienneau chris.vienn...@autodesk.com wrote: Hi everyone, Things are very different than six years ago. In terms of competition for Autodesk, you can now argue in different industries there is Cinema 4D, Modo, Houdini, Zbrush, 3D coat, and even Unity (now has modeling tools) that can replace functionality that was once only available in 3dsmax, Maya, and Softimage. Things are more and more about playing nice with other tools in an ecosystem than one package to rule them all. cv/ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [ softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Ben Barker [ ben.bar...@gmail.com] Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2014 12:38 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit I'm not a lawyer either, but a few thoughts. When AD first bought Softimage there were talks of monopoly. Unfortunately for us, AD's biggest market is CAD, and they have several competitors in that arena. The government doesn't really parcel out the market in a way that favors a claim on monopoly for 3D artists. We are just a small bulb on a large tree. Secondly, and this is a more serious problem, antitrust basically doesn't exist anymore in the US like it did in the days of Ma Bell. I talked with my partner, who is a larval lawyer, about this issue quite a bit. Every antitrust decision for the past 70 years has gnawed away at plaintiff power in antitrust cases and now there is essentially nothing left. Combined with the weak case we would already have from the first part, and I think this would be a really difficult row to hoe. That money and energy would probably be better spent re-educating and resource sharing among SI artists so they can move on, or perhaps fighting the subsidy/tariff issue. I understand the anger, and it's heartbreaking to watch a superior product die in favor of Maya, but this wouldn't be a good way to retaliate IMO. On Sun, Mar 16, 2014 at 12:06 PM, skuby sku...@gmail.commailto: sku...@gmail.com wrote: There may be a case here for an Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit against Autodesk. We would need to have a lawyer look at the details and I'm not the person to be able to do this, as I don't have the resources, connections or credibility to do so. However, if successful, it is potentially possible that Autodesk could be forced to divest their Softimage assets, aka. they could be compelled by a court to sell Softimage to a competitor at it's fair market value. Anyways, maybe someone out there in the aether can give the idea a shot, I would not know where to start outside of this initial suggestion. The Federal Trade Commission along with the Department of Justice Antitrust Division jointly regulate and enforce Antitrust Law and Anti-Competitive Monopoly practices. Anyways, this might work a little better than a petition to Autodesk or other-such cries for a change of heart, but the petition someone put out there to Autodesk might serve some use when presenting the idea to a Lawyer(s). I think a lot of people and interested parties might just support crowdfunding for legal fees. Good luck.
Re: Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit
What i don't understand is why Autode$k want people hate them. I mean, look at The Foundry, such a nice reputation. Why Autodesk don't want to be a good company? They only need to listen customers; that's all. It's easy. On Sun, Mar 16, 2014 at 9:29 PM, Sebastien Sterling sebastien.sterl...@gmail.com wrote: if only to shit in their coffee :P On 17 March 2014 01:02, Doeke Wartena clankil...@gmail.com wrote: I think it will be very expensive but i would be happy to donate some. 2014-03-16 20:16 GMT+01:00 Tenshi Sama tenshu...@gmail.com: I'm not a lawyer, but i think with Autodesk history there's maybe a case here. The only way i think this could be accomplished is with all the community support; from studios to freelancers; important people; then, gather all the info from past years, videos, open letters, discussions, petitions, AD statements about Softimage future. I mean, everything!. And maybe we could have a case here.(maybe a weak one, but still a case) The problem i see with this is that people is not going to support something like this, because it requires investment and time. Human beings think first about their priorities, families and life itself(which is fine). But, if only we could give support to something like this, this kind of monopoly cases, will be over for decades, because company's will know for sure that Users will fight for their rights. Don't misunderstand me, i hate the way Autode$k manage things, i would love to see the law force them to give the users what they promess year after year. What I do not like to see is how people bow to Autodesk and let them decide the path that everyone must follow. So... ,first we need a good representative, then a good lawyer, community support, and money. (sorry for my english) On Sun, Mar 16, 2014 at 12:49 PM, Chris Vienneau chris.vienn...@autodesk.com wrote: Hi everyone, Things are very different than six years ago. In terms of competition for Autodesk, you can now argue in different industries there is Cinema 4D, Modo, Houdini, Zbrush, 3D coat, and even Unity (now has modeling tools) that can replace functionality that was once only available in 3dsmax, Maya, and Softimage. Things are more and more about playing nice with other tools in an ecosystem than one package to rule them all. cv/ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [ softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Ben Barker [ ben.bar...@gmail.com] Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2014 12:38 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit I'm not a lawyer either, but a few thoughts. When AD first bought Softimage there were talks of monopoly. Unfortunately for us, AD's biggest market is CAD, and they have several competitors in that arena. The government doesn't really parcel out the market in a way that favors a claim on monopoly for 3D artists. We are just a small bulb on a large tree. Secondly, and this is a more serious problem, antitrust basically doesn't exist anymore in the US like it did in the days of Ma Bell. I talked with my partner, who is a larval lawyer, about this issue quite a bit. Every antitrust decision for the past 70 years has gnawed away at plaintiff power in antitrust cases and now there is essentially nothing left. Combined with the weak case we would already have from the first part, and I think this would be a really difficult row to hoe. That money and energy would probably be better spent re-educating and resource sharing among SI artists so they can move on, or perhaps fighting the subsidy/tariff issue. I understand the anger, and it's heartbreaking to watch a superior product die in favor of Maya, but this wouldn't be a good way to retaliate IMO. On Sun, Mar 16, 2014 at 12:06 PM, skuby sku...@gmail.commailto: sku...@gmail.com wrote: There may be a case here for an Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit against Autodesk. We would need to have a lawyer look at the details and I'm not the person to be able to do this, as I don't have the resources, connections or credibility to do so. However, if successful, it is potentially possible that Autodesk could be forced to divest their Softimage assets, aka. they could be compelled by a court to sell Softimage to a competitor at it's fair market value. Anyways, maybe someone out there in the aether can give the idea a shot, I would not know where to start outside of this initial suggestion. The Federal Trade Commission along with the Department of Justice Antitrust Division jointly regulate and enforce Antitrust Law and Anti-Competitive Monopoly practices. Anyways, this might work a little better than a petition to Autodesk or other-such cries for a change of heart, but the petition someone put out there to Autodesk might serve some use when presenting the idea to a Lawyer(s). I think a lot of people and interested parties might just
