So this isn't Hammerpoint/OP Productions?
So I figured I'd look into some more stuff, since this company is going to crazy lengths to try to convince people that they're not Hammerpoint/OP Productions just rehashing WarZ and trying to bleed more money from Steam users while their last title, Infestation/The War Z just...dies...much like their title before it, The War Inc.
OP Productions LLC, is a registered company in Delaware...that shares the same mailing address as the "Corporation Trust Company" at 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. What The Corporation Trust Company is, is that they are a facilitator in creating Limited Liability Companies (LLC) in the state of Delaware. This is a fairly common practice in Delaware and Nevada, because it's so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ easy to do it. You sign some papers, pay your $50 and voila, you're a company. The only listed address for OP Productions LLC, the publisher of The War Z and Infestation: Survivor Stories is this 1209 Orange St. As "The Corporation Trust Company" also takes in mail for their LLC's for tax purposes and renewals. It doesn't help that 1209 Orange St. looks like a shut down newspaper shop.
Jump ahead and now we have "Nether Productions LLC." Much like OP Productions LLC, they too are a Delaware Company. Registered at 16192 Coastal Highway, Lewes, DE 19958. The same address as "Harvard Business Services Inc." Which much like The Corporation Trust Company, is a facilitator and registrar for Delaware Corporations. HBS is a nice little office on some out of town backwoods dual carriage way on the atlantic coast of Delaware. Much like OP Productions, this not their actual mailing address. But HBS merely takes in mail to keep their LLC alive every year like they do for all of their clients.
In my searching, I could actually find no mailing or contact address for either Nether Productions LLC or OP Productions LLC.
Now being a Delaware LLC or a Nevada LLC isn't necessarily bad, nor is it even illegal necessarily. Many major companies do it. The difference is, it makes it incredibly simple to not only create a shell company within a relatively short amount of time but also shelter the ownership.
Add to this that the filing of the trademarks for The War Z, Infestation and now Nether are all done by the same lawyer....among other trademarks. A Mr. Steve Bercu Esq. of Cambridge MA. His website:
http://www.limelaw.com/team.html
http://www.trademarkia.com/the-war-z-85682663.html
http://www.trademarkia.com/infestation-survivor-stories-86006751.html
http://www.trademarkia.com/infestation-85898388.html
http://www.trademarkia.com/nether-86007710.html
http://www.trademarkia.com/prey-or-pray-86007699.html
Who also registered the Trademark for this:
http://www.trademarkia.com/war-of-mechs-86064613.html
Assigned to an Arktos Entertainment Group LLC. Arktos, the original developer of "The War Inc." Which went ♥♥♥♥ up some time in like 2010 and eventually given over to GamersFirst for Free to Play horribleness. The War Inc was a predecessor to The War Z. His only 3 filed trademarks are all associated with a team or teams that were directly responsible or allegedly responsible for The War Z/Infestation.
Isn't that neat?
So while Nether's explanation for this is as follows:
"But what about the copyright? This is commen as game developers use specific lawyers to do this. We are a smaller development studio so we dont have someone on staff to do Copyright claims, so why not outsource this?"
Sensible...except they've managed to outsource it to the one person who has absolutely no other registered trademarks associated to them except for those previously associated with Arktos or Hammerpoint.
For more clarification...
An article on Arktos' majority stake in Hammerpoint.
http://venturebeat.com/2012/12/17/a...ame-studio-hammerpoint-interactive-exclusive/
In the ignoble words of Tony Stark..."what were you lying?"
PS. Deleting this won't make any difference, as I'm forwarding it to other outlets. I'm certainly not a detective or a pro in this whole corporate registration and trademarks world. But I'm sure the other people I send this to will have more luck.
Or I could pay the $40 to the State of Delaware registrar's for the complete filing of each of the two LLC's. But I'm kind of cheap.
