TheThreadsThatBindUs said: Under the poorly defined and vague conditions provided by the article of law...



Are you just trying to be obtuse now?



How is it in any way clear? Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Triggerhappytel said: Honestly, this sounds vaguely like blackmail. "If you pay $16 million now he'll be much more receptive to selling you The Witcher IP at a later date. If not, we intend to take you to court to argue that the initial contract was for one game only." Click to expand... Click to shrink...

I don't see the article as poorly defined or vague. It is very broad, sure, but that was likely intentional as any request will be heard by a judge.Sapkowski's rights as they pertain to Article 44 are very clear and pretty substantial. He needs to demonstrate his claim for compensation, sure, but his right to do so is clear cut.This is why at the end of the day if it does go to trial I think he has a pretty good chance of having a ruling in his favor, but far, far lower than the initial amount asked.How about this for some perspective:CDPR is a publicly traded company. All outstanding equity (shares) are worth $237M USD. Sapkowski's notice is effectively suggesting that nearly 7% of the entire company is a reasonable ask.This is a product of most royalty deals being off total profits, and that is how his legal counsel are selling this, but to come back after the fact and act like a total revenue percentage equal to the rate someone who took the day one risk would ask for is incredibly dubious.I wouldn't call it blackmail as I'd have a hard time thinking he and his legal counsel weren't aware of CDPR's likely obligations for disclosure as a publicly traded company, but it definitely looks like a very hardball tactic for some reason. As they site full copyright sale later on as part of the "benefit" in complying I suspect that is what is really going on here. Sapkowski and his legal team see CDPR as a nine figure company that exists thanks to Sapkowski's work entirely, and so if they want to own that work entirely they need to pay up with something equal to the share of someone who founded the entire company.That strikes me as disingenuous as he avoided all the risk early and is using Polish law to try and claim the reward after the fact, when in reality if he just wanted a retirement tier payday he'd sell the IP to them for a few million USD and walk away a rich(er) man.