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| PUBLISHER OF THE KING OF PERU 2 SUED AT LAW |
Last
update : SET. 5, 2002
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(traducir al castellano)THE RELEASE OF THE FIRST VIDEOGAME PUBLISHED IN THE PERU TWIN EAGLES GROUP is the only coding team still active in the peruvian scene. We obtained two important goals for Perú. In 1998 we have created the FIRST PERUVIAN VIDEOGAME published in Europe (GUNBEE F-99, Amiga computers) and most recently we made the first videogame to be published in our market, THE KING OF PERU 2: THE FINAL MECHA! (KOP2, PC CD-ROM). With a great deal of effort and sacrifice we follow ahead in this very hard job and always with the hope to get from users the enough moral and money support without which would be to us very difficult to continue. KOP2 was developed in 7 months by a team of 7 dudes, being MICRONICS (Impulso Informatico S.A., a peruvian firm manufacturers of PC products) the Producer and PUBLISHER of KOP2 CD-ROM. Our videogame was put on sale on DECEMBER 14, 2001 in many newspaper stands of Lima, supermarkets SANTA ISABEL, E.WONG and METRO, ZETA and CRISOL bookstores, SHELL and MOBIL OIL OF PERU stations, as also in some provinces of Perú like Arequipa, Chiclayo, Chimbote, Cuzco, Huancayo, Trujillo. Thanks to the background history of TWIN EAGLES GROUP, great part of the peruvian local press supported this release with reports and interviews in well-known television programs and magazines: Channel 2 (Frencuencia Latina), Channel 4 (America TV), Channel 7 (Television Nacional del Perú), Channel 9 (ATV), Channel 13 (Red Global, Channel N, "El Comercio" newspaper, "PC World Perú" and "Gente" magazines. WE REALLY APPRECIATE ALL THEIR SUPPORT WITHOUT WHICH WE COULD NOT BE ABLE TO SPREAD THE WORD ENOUGH ABOUT THE RELEASE OF KOP2 CD-ROM. 
HOW OUR PUBLISHER HAS CHEATED USBut the release of KOP2 SUFFERED A BLOW when our same Publisher, IMPULSO INFORMATICO S.A., the Producer and Publisher of the CD-ROMs who is representative of the well known brand MICRONICS (a very large peruvian supplier of keyboards, mouses, speakers, PC cases, etc.), strangely did all the possible to BLOW THE SALES of the videogame theirself where publishing, arriving to the extreme of NOT ACCOMPLISH SEVERAL CLAUSES OF OUR CONTRACT, being the most serious the fact that they surprisedly DENIED TO RESTOCK CD-ROMS in the sale-points with exhausted stock (this just after 20 days of sales and while many magazines and TV programs were airing reports about KOP2 and interviews about our group), but worse was the fact that the Producer DIDN'T PRODUCED THE QUANTITY of CDs and NEITHER DISTRIBUTED THEM through its own distributors-chain despite it is established both terms in our Contract. By the way, their "distribution chain" would be the 200 sale points in "WILSON GALLERY", the most infamous place of CD PIRACY in Lima, Perú where hundred of people sells cd copies at the price of US$2.5 at the light of day, so it was very important that the Publisher should send KOP2 CD-ROMs to that place considering our videogame was selling in Perú at an incredible low price of US$4.5. But at second week of JANUARY 2002 the business relationship with the Impulso Informatico S.A. was so strained that WE REQUESTED POLICE INTERVENTION to take the minutes since our Producer and Publisher DENIED to us the entrance to their offices as also denied to us (the authors) sales of our videogame. The reality was that Impulso Informatico S.A. HAD SUSPENDED ARBITRARILY OUR CONTRACT, a fact that is evident in the police minutes we requested on JANUARY 21, 2002. And so the days passed without nothing to do, just watching how our game was being illegally copied, while no originals KOP cds could be anymore supplied to sale points (despite they requested constatly). Finally, on FEBRUARY 19, 2001 the KOP2 Publisher license offered to Impulso Informatico S.A. WAS OVER. In that date they should unconditionally pay to us the royalties of KOP2 sales... well, they simply DENIED and up to date, May 2002, our Publisher HAS NOT PAID NEITHER A SINGLE DOLLAR OF OUR PROFIT AND WE HAVE RECEIVED NEITHER A SINGLE PIECE OF THE KOP2 CDs REMAINDERS. Before such many irregular facts, we went to a Court of Conciliation but Impulso Informatico S.A. DIDN'T SHOW UP. Then, a weeks later, and extremely out of time, we received from them the first report of sales... with FRAUDULENT VALUES, intending to diminish the real quantity of sales of our videogame. It remains clear that REAL INTENTIONS of Impulso Informatico S.A. was to benefit of the Clause nr. 9 of our Contract, which establishes that of not being sold sufficient CDs to recuperate the total cost of cds production, the Producer would get the CDs remainder valued to the prime cost and then they could sell them to the price they want. That is to say... TO SMALLER QUANTITY OF SALES OF OUR VIDEOGAME, MORE ORIGINAL CD-ROMS FOR THEM, AND LESS CD-ROMS FOR US (and without receiving money in cash). In a normal scenery this would be perfectly understandable, but NOT after so many UNACCOMPLISHMENTS of the Contract by the same Producer and Publisher of our videogame.
But the story still continues. THEIR ATTEMPT TO CHEAT US  While checking all bills and documents presented to the judge by Impulso Informatico in their reply to our sue, we discovered their attempt to cheat us. We already reported this to the judge in August: 1) - They increased the prime cost by 1,000 pieces more than the signed in the Contract. 2) - The covers CD were printed in 2 different places: the first group was printed in December 2001 and the rest was printed in January 2002 (one month after the official release). The strange fact is that the second printing of covers were priced THREE MORE TIMES than first ones. Should cost less! 3) - The first printing of covers CD where valued all together to the same cost of the second printing, this means MORE THAN REALLY COSTED. 4) - Impulso Informatico stated to the judge that the prime cost of each KOP2 CD-ROM is US$ 1.30, but when recalculating we discovered that price is wrong and should be MUCH LOWER. Their price would be right if we include all production excess by them as part of the whole production. 5) - After recalculating all prime costs just as stated in our Contract, we found that if we had accepted their Final Sales Report in March 2002 they would have stolen part of our profit (that's money). PRODUCTION AND SALES WITHOUT LICENCE We also found two other important things which make worst their legal situation: 1) - They produced covers, backcovers and box of our videogame without Licence, an excess of 3,000 units for each piece, which designs are also copyrighted by us. We Why? 2) - They continued selling our videogame without Licence until early Augusto 2002. Remember that our licence was up to Feb. 2002, and ONLY AFTER PAYING TO US THE ROYALTIES they could continue selling, but never happened. All documents, bills and sale tickets were already send to the judge.
FINAL WORDS... Take a great deal of care with Ivan Daza Arias (manager of Impulso Informatico SA.) and especially with FERNANDO ASTORGA MARQUEZ (manager of Micronics Corporation SA., before Micronics SA. and Micronics Of Perú SA., strangely changing the name of its firm every year). It was Fernando Astorga Marquez who contacted us to make the deal and the main responsible for what happened since he is THE HIDDEN BOSS of all that thief organization. Follow our counsel: DO NOT DO DEALS WITH THEM. DO
NOT buy MICRONICS products |
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On
late APRIL 2002 we SUED
AT LAW IMPULSO INFORMATICO S.A. (MICRONICS)
at 11th. CIVIL COURT OF LIMA, file 2002-15053-0-0100-J-CI-11.
They have already replied to our sue and now we're all waiting
for the first date of hearing.